Malachi 3

3“I will send my messenger,^a who will prepare the way before me.^b Then suddenly the Lord^c you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^d whom you desire,^e will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

²But who can endure^f the day of his coming?^g Who can stand^h when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fireⁱ or a launderer’s soap.^{j 3}He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^k he will purify^l the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^m Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{n 4}and the offerings^o of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^p

⁵“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^q adulterers^r and perjurers,^s against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^t who oppress the widows^u and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^v among you of justice, but do not fear^w me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶“I the Lord do not change.^x So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{y 7}Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^z from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^a to me, and I will return to you,”^b says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^c ‘How are we to return?’

⁸“Will a mere mortal rob^d God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^e and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse^f—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe^g into the storehouse,^h that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgatesⁱ of heaven and pour out^j so much blessing^k that there will not be room enough to store it.^{l 11}I will prevent pests from devouring^m your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,ⁿ” says the Lord Almighty. ¹²“Then all the nations will call you blessed,^o for yours will be a delightful land,”^p says the Lord Almighty.^q

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³“You have spoken arrogantly^r against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^s ‘What have we said against you?’

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