17 You have awearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “bEveryone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He cdelights in them,” or, “dWhere is the God of ejustice?”

Chapter 3

The Purifier

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

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

3 “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 the Lord 1offerings in righteousness.

4 “Then the 1offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be apleasing to the Lord as in the bdays of old 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 2falien and do not 3fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.

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