¹⁴“You have said, ‘It is futile^t to serve^u God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^v and going about like mourners^w before the Lord Almighty? ¹⁵But now we call the arrogant^x blessed. Certainly evildoers^y prosper,^z and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^a A scroll^b of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^c the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^d treasured possession.^e I will spare^f them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^g who serves him. ¹⁸And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^h and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.ⁱ

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4^a“Surely the day is coming;^j it will burn like a furnace.^k All the arrogant^l and every evildoer will be stubble,^m and the day that is coming will set them on fire,ⁿ” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^o will be left to them. ²But for you who revere my name,^p the sun of righteousness^q will rise with healing^r in its rays. And you will go out and frolic^s like well-fed calves.

Read in Logos

Malachi 3:17: “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Footnotes

aIn Hebrew texts 4:1–6 is numbered 3:19–24.

Cross references

r Mal 2:17
sSee Mal 1:2
t Ps 73:13; See Isa 57:10
u Ps 100:2; Jn 12:26; Ro 12:11
vSee Jos 22:5; See Isa 1:14
w Isa 58:3
xSee Ps 119:21
y Ps 14:1; 36:1–2; Jer 7:10
zSee Job 21:7
aSee Ps 34:15
bSee Ex 32:32; See Ps 56:8; See 87:6; See Lk 10:20
cSee Dt 28:58; See 31:12; Ps 33:18; See Pr 1:7; Rev 11:18
d Isa 43:21
eSee Ex 8:22; See Dt 7:6; See Ro 8:14; See Tit 2:14
f Ne 13:22; Ps 103:13; Isa 26:20; Lk 15:1–32
g Ro 8:32
hSee Ge 18:25
i Dt 32:4; Mt 25:32–33, 41
jSee Da 7:13; See Joel 2:31; Mt 11:14; Ac 2:20
kSee Isa 31:9
lSee Isa 2:12
mSee Isa 5:24; See Na 1:10
nSee Isa 1:31
oSee 2 Ki 10:11; See Eze 17:8; See Mt 3:10
pSee Dt 28:58; Ps 61:5; 111:9; Rev 14:1
qSee Ps 118:27; See Isa 9:2; See 45:8; Lk 1:78; Eph 5:14
rSee 2 Ch 7:14; See Isa 30:26; See Mt 4:23; Rev 22:2
sSee Isa 35:6