Malachi 3

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.	1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye.	2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 He will sit refining and purifying (silver), and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.	3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old, as in years gone by.	4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be swift to bear witness Against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, those who defraud the hired man of his wages, Against those who defraud widows and orphans; those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.	5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6 Surely I, the LORD, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.	6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Since the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Yet you say, "How must we return?"	7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, "How do we rob you?" In tithes and in offerings!	8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 You are indeed accursed, for you, the whole nation, rob me.	9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the LORD of hosts: Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure?	10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 For your sake I will forbid the locust to destroy your crops; And the vine in the field will not be barren, says the LORD of hosts.	11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts.	12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
13 You have defied me in word, says the LORD, yet you ask, "What have we spoken against you?"	13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 You have said, "It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts?	14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity."	15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened attentively; And a record book was written before him of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.	16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.	17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; Between him who serves God, and him who does not serve him.	18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
19 For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts.
20 But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays; And you will gambol like calves out of the stall
21 1)and tread down the wicked; They will become ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day I take action, says the LORD of hosts.
22 Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I enjoined him on Horeb, The statutes and ordinances for all Israel.
23 Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great and terrible day,
24 To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with doom.