The Coming Messenger
“Behold, aI send My messenger,
And he will bprepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
cEven the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, dHe is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
2 “But who can endure athe day of His coming?
And bwho can stand when He appears?
For cHe is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
3 aHe 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 boffer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.
4 “Then athe 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,
aAgainst perjurers,
Against those who bexploit wage earners and cwidows 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, aI do not change;
bTherefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of ayour fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
bReturn to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
c“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?’
aIn tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 aBring all the tithes into the bstorehouse,
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 cwindows of heaven
And dpour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke athe 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 aa delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
The People Complain Harshly
13 “Youra words have been harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 aYou 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 awe call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even btempt God and go free.’ ”
A Book of Remembrance
16 Then those awho feared the Lord bspoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So ca book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
17 “Theya shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My bjewels.
And cI will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 aThen you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.