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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Malachi 3: TLV
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Malachi 3
3
1The Lord All-Powerful says, “I am sending my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then suddenly, the Lord you are looking for will come to his temple.#3:1 temple Or “palace.” Yes, the messenger you are waiting for, the one who will tell about my agreement, is really coming!
2“No one can prepare for that time or stand against him when he comes. He will be like a burning fire. He will be like the strong soap people use to make things clean. 3He will make the Levites clean. He will make them pure, like silver is made pure with fire! He will make them pure like gold and silver. Then they will bring gifts to the Lord, and they will do things the right way. 4Then the Lord will accept the gifts from Judah and Jerusalem. It will be as it was in the past—as the time long ago. 5Then I will bring you to justice. I will be an expert witness and testify about the evil things people do. I will speak out against those who do evil magic or commit adultery. I will speak out against those who make false promises and cheat their workers and don’t pay them the money they promised. I will testify against those who don’t help strangers, or widows and orphans. And I will testify against those who don’t respect me.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
Stealing From God
6“I am the Lord, and I don’t change. You are Jacob’s children, and you have not been completely destroyed. 7But you never obeyed my laws. Even your ancestors stopped following me. Come back to me, and I will come back to you.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
“You say, ‘How can we come back?’
8“People should not steal things from God, but you stole things from me.
“You say, ‘What did we steal from you?’
“You should have given me one-tenth of your things. You should have given me special gifts. 9In this way your whole nation has stolen things from me, so bad things are happening to you.”
10The Lord All-Powerful says, “Try this test. Bring one-tenth of your things to me. Put them in the treasury. Bring food to my house. Test me! If you do these things, I will surely bless you. Good things will come to you like rain falling from the sky. You will have more than enough of everything. 11I will not let pests destroy your crops. All your grapevines will produce grapes.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
12“People from other nations will be good to you. You will have a wonderful country.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
The Special Time of Judgment
13The Lord says, “You said cruel things to me.”
But you ask, “What did we say about you?”
14You said, “It is useless to worship God. We did what the Lord All-Powerful told us, but we didn’t gain anything. We cried like people at a funeral to show we were sorry for our sins, but it didn’t help. 15We think proud people are happy. Evil people succeed. They do evil things to test God’s patience, and God does not punish them.”
16Then the Lord’s followers spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to them. There is a book in front of him. In that book are the names of his followers. They are the people who honor the Lord’s name.
17The Lord All-Powerful said, “They belong to me. I will be kind to them. Parents are very kind to their children who obey them. In the same way I will be kind to my followers. 18You people will come back to me, and you will learn the difference between good and evil. You will learn the difference between someone who follows God and someone who does not.
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