The Coming Messenger

3 “Behold, aI send My messenger,

And he will bprepare the way before Me.

And the Lord, whom you seek,

Will suddenly come to His temple,

cEven the Messenger of the covenant,

In whom you delight.

Behold, dHe is coming,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

2 “But who can endure ethe day of His coming?

And fwho can stand when He appears?

For gHe is like a refiner’s fire

And like launderers’ soap.

3 hHe will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi,

And 1purge them as gold and silver,

That they may ioffer to the Lord

An offering in righteousness.

4 “Then jthe offering of Judah and Jerusalem

Will be 2pleasant to the Lord,

As in the days of old,

As in former years.

5 And I will come near you for judgment;

I will be a swift witness

Against sorcerers,

Against adulterers,

kAgainst perjurers,

Against those who lexploit wage earners and mwidows and orphans,

And against those who turn away an alien—

Because they do not fear Me,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For I am the Lord, nI do not change;

oTherefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

7 Yet from the days of pyour fathers

You have gone away from My ordinances

And have not kept them.

qReturn to Me, and I will return to you,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

r“But you said,

‘In what way shall we return?’

Do Not Rob God

8 “Will a man rob God?

Yet you have robbed Me!

But you say,

‘In what way have we robbed You?’

sIn tithes and offerings.

9 You are cursed with a curse,

For you have robbed Me,

Even this whole nation.

10 tBring all the tithes into the ustorehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the vwindows of heaven

And wpour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.

11 “And I will rebuke xthe devourer for your sakes,

So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,

Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”

Says the Lord of hosts;

12 And all nations will call you blessed,

For you will be ya delightful land,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

The People Complain Harshly

13 “Your zwords have been 3harsh against Me,”

Says the Lord,

Yet you say,

‘What have we spoken against You?’

14 aYou have said,

‘It is useless to serve God;

What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,

And that we have walked as mourners

Before the Lord of hosts?

15 So now bwe call the proud blessed,

For those who do wickedness are 4raised up;

They even ctempt God and go free.’ ”

A Book of Remembrance

16 Then those dwho feared the Lord espoke to one another,

And the Lord listened and heard them;

So fa book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the Lord

And who 5meditate on His name.

17 “They gshall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,

“On the day that I make them My hjewels. 6

And iI will spare them

As a man spares his own son who serves him.”

18 jThen you shall again discern

Between the righteous and the wicked,

Between one who serves God

And one who does not serve Him.