Malachi 3:13–4:2

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?”

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

¹⁶At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance^h 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. ²But 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