Malachi 3

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says the LORD of Armies.

Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom you take pleasure in: behold, he is coming, says the Lord Almighty.

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

And who will abide the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers.

3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the LORD offerings in righteousness.

He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall 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 and as in ancient years.

And the sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, according to the former days, and according to the former years.

5 I will come near to you to judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and do not fear me,” says the LORD of Armies.

And I will draw near to you in judgment; and I will be a sift witness against the witches, and against the adulteresses, and against them that swear falsely by my name, and against them that keep back the hireling's wages, and them that oppress the widow, and afflict orphans, and that wrest the judgment of the stranger, and fear not me, says the Lord Almighty.

6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed:

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

but you, the sons of Jacob, have not refrained from the iniquities of your fathers: you have perverted my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But you said, Wherein shall we return?

8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.

Will a man insult God? for you insult me. But you say, Wherein have we insulted you? In that the tithes and first fruits are with you [still].

9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

And you do surely look off from me, and you insult me.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be enough room for.

The year is completed, and you have brought all the produce into the storehouses; but there shall be the plunder thereof in its house: return now on this behalf, says the Lord Almighty, [see] if I will not open to you the torrents of heaven, and pour out my blessing upon you, until you are satisfied.

11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says the LORD of Armies.

And I will appoint food for you, and I will not destroy the fruit of your land; and your vine in the field shall not fail, says the Lord Almighty.

12 “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Armies.

And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a desirable land, says the Lord Almighty.

13 “Your words have been harsh against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’

You have spoken grievous words against me, says the Lord. Yet you said, Wherein have we spoken against you?

14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God,’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of Armies?

You said, He that serves God labors in vain: and what have we gained in that we have kept his ordinances, and in that we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty?

15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

And now we pronounce strangers blessed; and all they who act unlawfully are built up; and they have resisted God, and [yet] have been delivered.

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke one with another; and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of memory was written before him for those who feared the LORD and who honored his name.

Thus spoke they that feared the Lord, every one to his neighbor: and the Lord gave heed, and listened, and he wrote a book of remembrance before him for them that feared the Lord and reverenced his name.

17 They shall be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

And they shall be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day which I appoint for a peculiar possession; and I will make choice of them, as a man makes choice of his son that serves him.

18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.

Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, and between him that serves God, and him that serves [him] not.