Malachi 3:16–4:6

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 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.

A FINAL WARNING

⁴“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb^l for all Israel. ⁵Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah^m before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^{n 6}And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.^o Otherwise, I will come and strike the land^B with a curse.”