Malachi 3

¹ 'Look, I shal send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek wilcome to his Temple; yes, the angel of the covenant, for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

² Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who wil remain standing when he appears? For hewil be like a refiner's fire, like ful ers' alkali.

³ He wil take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold andsilver, so that they can make the offering to Yahweh with uprightness.

⁴ The offering of Judah and Jerusalem wil then be acceptable to Yahweh as in former days, as in theyears of old.

⁵ I am coming to put you on trial and I shal be a ready witness against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers,and against those who oppress the wage-earner, the widow and the orphan, and who rob the foreigner of hisrights and do not respect me, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

⁶ 'No; I, Yahweh, do not change; and you have not ceased to be children of Jacob!

⁷ Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have evaded my statutes and not observed them. Return tome and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. You ask, "How are we to return?

⁸ Can a human being cheat God?" Yet you try to cheat me! You ask, "How do we try to cheat you?" Overtithes and contributions.

⁹ A curse lies on you because you, this whole nation, try to cheat me.

¹⁰ Bring the tithes in ful to the treasury, so that there is food in my house; put me to the test now like this,says Yahweh Sabaoth, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out an abundantblessing for you.

¹¹ For your sakes, I shal forbid the locust to destroy the produce of your soil or prevent the vine frombearing fruit in your field, says Yahweh Sabaoth,

¹² and all the nations wil cal you blessed, for you wil be a land of delights, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

¹³ 'You have said harsh things about me, says Yahweh. And yet you say, "What have we said againstyou?"

¹⁴ You have said, "It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walkingmournful y before Yahweh Sabaoth?

¹⁵ In fact, we now cal the proud the happy ones; the evil-doers are the ones who prosper; they put Godto the test, yet come to no harm!" '

¹⁶ Then those who feared Yahweh talked to one another about this, and Yahweh took note and listened;and a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who feared him and kept his name inmind.

¹⁷ 'On the day when I act, says Yahweh Sabaoth, they will be my most prized possession, and I shalspare them in the way a man spares the son who serves him.

¹⁸ Then once again you wil see the difference between the upright person and the wicked one, betweenthe one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.

¹⁹ 'For look, the Day is coming, glowing like a furnace. Al the proud and al the evil-doers wil be thestubble, and the Day, when it comes, wil set them ablaze, says Yahweh Sabaoth, leaving them neither root norbranch.

²⁰ But for you who fear my name, the Sun of justice wil rise with healing in his rays, and you wil comeout leaping like calves from the stal ,

²¹ and trample on the wicked, who will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,says Yahweh Sabaoth.

²² 'Remember the Law of my servant Moses to whom at Horeb I prescribed decrees and rulings for alIsrael.

²³ 'Look, I shal send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of Yahweh comes.

²⁴ He will reconcile parents to their children and children to their parents, to forestal my putting thecountry under the curse of destruction.'