מלאכי ג

Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Sovereign you seek shall come to the temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye.

He shall act like a smelter and purger of silver; and he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they shall present offerings in righteousness.

Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to GOD as in the days of yore and in the years of old.

But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said GOD of Hosts.

For I am GOD—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be.

From the very days of your ancestors you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said GOD of Hosts. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?”

Ought mortals to defraud, a play on the name of Jacob (v. 6); cf. Gen. 27.36. God? Yet you are defrauding Me. And you ask, “How have we been defrauding You?” In tithe and contribution.

You are suffering under a curse, yet you go on defrauding Me—the whole nation of you.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, and let there be food in My House, and thus put Me to the test—said GOD of Hosts. I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and pour down blessings on you;

and I will banish the locusts from you, so that they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall no longer miscarry—said GOD of Hosts.

And all the nations shall account you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands—said GOD of Hosts.

You have spoken hard words against Me—said GOD. But you ask, “What have we been saying among ourselves against You?”

You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping God’s charge and walking in abject awe of GOD of Hosts?

And so, we account the arrogant happy: they have indeed done evil and endured; they have indeed dared God and escaped.”

In this vein have those who revere GOD been talking to one another. GOD has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at God’s behest concerning those who revere GOD and esteem that name.

And on the day that I am preparing, said GOD of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him.

And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who have served God and those who have not.

For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said GOD of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs.

But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise to bring healing. You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves,

and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said GOD of Hosts.

Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.

Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of GOD.

He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.

Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of GOD.