CHAPTER 3
“Behold,
I will send
My messenger,
who will prepare
the way
before Me.
Then the Lord
whom
you
seek
will suddenly
come
to
His temple—
the Messenger
of the covenant,
in whom
you delight—
see,
He is coming,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
But who
can endure
the day
of His coming?
And who
can stand
when He appears?
For
He
will be like a refiner’s
fire,
like a launderer's
soap.
And He will sit
as a refiner
and purifier
of silver;
He will purify
the sons
of Levi
and refine
them like gold
and silver.
Then they will present
offerings
to the LORD
in righteousness.
Then the offerings
of Judah
and Jerusalem
will please
the LORD,
as in days
of old
and years
gone by.
“Then I will draw near
to you
for judgment.
And I will be
a swift
witness
against sorcerers
and adulterers
and
perjurers,
against oppressors
of the widowed
and fatherless,
and against those who defraud laborers
of their wages
and deny justice
to the foreigner
but do not
fear Me,"
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
Yet from the days
of your fathers,
you have turned away
from My statutes
and have not
kept them.
Return
to Me,
and I will return
to you,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
But you ask,
“How
can we return?”
“Will a man
rob
God?
Yet
you
are robbing
Me!”
You ask,
“How
do we rob You?”
“In tithes
and offerings.
Bring
the full
tithe
into
the storehouse,
so that there may be
food
in My house.
Test Me
in this,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“See if
I will not
open
the floodgates
of heaven
and pour out
for you
blessing
without
measure.
I will rebuke
the devourer
for you,
so that it will not
destroy
the fruits
of your land,
and the vine
in your field
will not
fail to produce fruit,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“Then all
the nations
will call you blessed,
for
you
will be
a land
of delight,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts.
“Your words
against Me
have been harsh,”
says
the LORD.
“Yet you ask,
‘What
have we spoken
against You?’
You have said,
‘It is futile
to serve
God.
What
have we gained
by keeping
His requirements
and walking
mournfully
before
the LORD
of Hosts?
So now
we
call the arrogant
blessed.
Not only
do evildoers
prosper,
they even
test
God
and escape.’”
At that time,
those who feared
the LORD
spoke
to one
another,
and the LORD
listened
and heard them.
So a scroll
of remembrance
was written
before Him
regarding those who feared
the LORD
and honored
His name.
“They will be Mine,”
says
the LORD
of Hosts,
“on the day
when
I
prepare
My treasured possession.
And I will spare
them
as
a man
spares
his own son
who serves
him.
So you will again
distinguish
between
the righteous
and the wicked,
between
those who serve
God
and those who
do not.”