Malachi 3:1–12

The Messenger and the Lord

¹“^aBehold, I am going to send ^bMy ¹messenger, and he will ^2cprepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; ³and the ^4dmessenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says Yahweh of hosts.

²“But who can ^aendure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^bsmelter’s fire and like ¹fullers’ soap.

³“And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^apurify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^bpresent to Yahweh ¹offerings in righteousness.

⁴“Then the ¹offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^apleasing to Yahweh as in the ^bancient days and as in former years.

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^asorcerers and against the ^badulterers and against those who ^cswear falsely and against those who oppress the ^dwage earner in his wages, the ^ewidow and the ¹orphan, and those who turn aside the ^fsojourner and do not ²fear Me,” says Yahweh of hosts.

⁶“For ¹I, Yahweh, ^ado not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, ²are not consumed.

You Have Robbed God

⁷“From the ^adays of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. ^bReturn to Me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

⁸“Will a man ¹rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^atithes and ²contributions.

⁹“You are ^acursed with a curse, for you are ¹robbing Me, the whole nation of you!

¹⁰“^aBring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be ¹food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not ^bopen for you the windows of heaven and ^cempty out for you a blessing until ^2dit is beyond enough.

¹¹“Then I will rebuke the ^adevourer for you so that it will not corrupt the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field ¹fail to bear,” says Yahweh of hosts.

¹²“^aSo all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a ^bdelightful land,” says Yahweh of hosts.