Malachi 3:1–7

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

2 But who can enduref the day of his coming?g Who can standh 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 purifyl 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 offeringso 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 adulterersr and perjurers,s against those who defraud laborers of their wages,t who oppress the widowsu and the fatherless, and deprive the foreignersv among you of justice, but do not fearw 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 awayz from my decrees and have not kept them. Returna to me, and I will return to you,”b says the Lord Almighty.

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