Malachi 3

The Coming Messenger

1 Behold, I send My messenger, Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, Says the Lord of hosts.2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiners fire And like launderers soap.3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years.5 And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien Because they do not fear Me, Says the Lord of hosts.6 For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, Says the Lord of hosts. But you said, In what way shall we return?

Do Not Rob God

8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings.9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this, Says the Lord of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, Says the Lord of hosts;12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land, Says the Lord of hosts.

The People Complain Harshly

13 Your words have been harsh against Me, Says the Lord, Yet you say, What have we spoken against You?14 You have said, It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts?15 So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.

A Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.17 They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.

MALACHI 3

The Promised Messenger

1  t I, the [Lord] All-Powerful,
will send my messenger
to prepare the way for me.
Then suddenly the Lord
you are looking for
will appear in his temple.
The messenger you desire
is coming with my promise,
and he is on his way.

A Day of Change

4 and the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will please him, just as they did in the past.

Don't Cheat God

5 The [Lord] All-Powerful said:
I'm now on my way to judge you. And I will quickly condemn all who practice witchcraft or cheat in marriage or tell lies in court or rob workers of their pay or mistreat widows and orphans or steal the property of foreigners or refuse to respect me.
6  t Descendants of Jacob, I am the [Lord] All-Powerful, and I never change. That's why you haven't been wiped out,

7 even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you.
And yet you ask, “How can we return?”

8 You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?”
You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.t 9 That's why your whole nation is under a curse. 10 t I am the [Lord] All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.t 11 I will also stop locustst from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing.

12 Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the [Lord] All-Powerful, have spoken!

13 You have said horrible things about me, and yet you ask, “What have we said?”
14 Here is what you have said: “It's foolish to serve the [Lord] God All-Powerful. What do we get for obeying God and from going around looking sad?

15 See how happy those arrogant people are. Everyone who does wrong is successful, and when they put God to the test, they always get away with it.”

Faithfulness Is Rewarded

16 All those who truly respected the [Lord] and honored his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their namest written as a reminder in his book.

17 Then the [Lord] All-Powerful said:
You people are precious to me, and when I come to bring justice, I will protect you, just as parents protect an obedient child. 18 Then everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong.