Malachi 3:1–18

“I will send my messenger,^e who will prepare the way before me.^f Then suddenly the Lord^g you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^h whom you desire,ⁱ will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure^j the day of his coming?^k Who can stand^l when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^m or a launderer’s soap.ⁿ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^o he will purify^p the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^q Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^r and the offerings^s of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^t

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

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

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

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

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

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

“In tithes^h and offerings. You are under a curseⁱ—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe^j into the storehouse,^k 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 floodgates^l of heaven and pour out^m so much blessingⁿ that there will not be room enough to store it.^o I will prevent pests from devouring^p your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^q” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^r for yours will be a delightful land,”^s says the Lord Almighty.^t

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

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

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

“You have said, ‘It is futile^c to serve^d God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^e and going about like mourners^f before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant^g blessed. Certainly evildoers^h prosper,ⁱ and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”

The Faithful Remnant

Then 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.

“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. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^h and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.ⁱ