Malachi 3

1Look, I am sending my messenger, and he will clear a path ahead of me. Then suddenly the Lord you are looking for will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant, the one you long for—look, he is coming, says Yahweh of Armies.

2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.

3He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings to Yahweh in righteousness.

4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh, as in the days of old and as in former years.

5I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who cheat hired workers of their wages and oppress the widow and the orphan, and against those who push aside the foreigner and do not fear me, says Yahweh of Armies.

6For I, Yahweh, do not change, and you, children of Jacob, have not been destroyed.

7Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh of Armies. But you say, “How are we to return?”

8Will a human being rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, “How have we robbed you?” In the tithes and the offerings.

9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you.

10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says Yahweh of Armies, and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out on you a blessing until there is no more need.

11I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil, and the vine in your field will not fail to bear, says Yahweh of Armies.

12Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says Yahweh of Armies.

13Your words against me have been harsh, says Yahweh. But you say, “What have we said against you?”

14You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What did we gain by keeping his requirements and walking in mourning before Yahweh of Armies?

15So now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper; they even test God and escape.”

16Then those who feared Yahweh spoke with one another, and Yahweh paid attention and heard. A book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear Yahweh and esteem his name.

17They will be mine, says Yahweh of Armies, my treasured possession, on the day when I act. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

18Then you will once again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.