Malachi 3

1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Robbing God

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings.9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, 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 of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty.

12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

13 “You have said harsh things against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?

15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’ ”

16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession.I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.

18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

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.