THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

13 “Your words against me are harsh,”a says the Lord.

Yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”

14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirementsb and walking mournfullyc before the Lord of Armies? 15 So now we consider the arrogantd to be fortunate.e Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test Godf and escape.”g

16 At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembranceh was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name. 17 “They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies,i “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.j 18 So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

4 “For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,k and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.A 3 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Armies.