Malachi 3
3
The Coming Day of Judgment
1“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2“But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. 4Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.
5“At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
A Call to Repentance
6“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
8“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.#3:11 Hebrew from the devourer. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12“Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
13“You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord.
“But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
14“You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? 15From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’”
The Lord’s Promise of Mercy
16Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.
17“They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
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Malachi 3: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Malachi 3
3
My Messenger is Coming
1“Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Suddenly He will come to His Temple —the Lord whom you seek— and the Messenger of the covenant —the One whom you desire— behold, He is coming,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
2But who can endure the day of His coming? Or who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, and like soap for cleaning raw wool.
3And He will sit as a smelter or a purifier of silver, and He will cleanse the sons of Levi, and purify them like gold or silver. Then they will become for Adonai those who present an offering in righteousness.
4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Adonai, as in days of antiquity and years of old.
5“Then I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers those who extort a worker’s wage, or oppress the widow or an orphan, those who mislead a stranger. They do not fear Me,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
6“For I am Adonai. I do not change, So you, children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Bring the Whole Tithe
7“From 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 Adonai-Tzva’ot. Yet you say: “How should we return?”
8“Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me!” But you say: “How have we robbed You?” “In the tithe and the offering.
9You have been cursed with the curse, yet you keep robbing Me—the whole nation!
10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then there will be food in My House. Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough.
11I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field,” Adonai-Tzva’ot says.
12“All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
13“Your words against Me are grievous,” says Adonai. Yet you say: “What did we say against You?”
14You say: “Serving God is worthless.” Also: “What good is it that we kept His service or that we walked as mourners before Adonai-Tzva’ot?
15So now we are calling the proud blessed. Those who practice iniquity are built up. Indeed, they have tested God, and escaped!”
16Then those who revere Adonai spoke with each other, and Adonai took notice and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before Him, for those who revere Adonai, even those who esteem His Name.
17“So they shall be Mine,”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“ in the day I make My own special possession. So I will spare them, as one spares his son serving him.
18Then you will return and distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
The Day Is Coming
19“For behold, the day is coming —it will burn like a furnace— when all the proud and every evildoer will become stubble. The day that is coming will set them ablaze” —says Adonai-Tzva’ot— “leaving them neither root nor branch.”
20“But for you who revere My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings. Then you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
21You will trample on the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I am making,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
22“Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, whom I commanded at Horeb—statutes and ordinances for all Israel.
23“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Adonai.
24He will turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and the hearts of children to their fathers—else I will come and strike the land with utter destruction.”
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