1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2But 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:
3And he shall sit as a
refiner and purifier 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.
4Then shall the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days
of old, and as in former years.
5And 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.
6For I am the
LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed.
7Even 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?
8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes
and offerings.
9Ye are cursed
with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this
whole nation.
10Bring 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.
11And 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.
12And all nations shall call you blessed: for
ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of
hosts.
13Your words have been stout against me,
saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so
much against thee?
14Ye 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?
15And now we call the proud happy; yea, they
that work wickedness are set up; yea, they
that tempt God are even delivered.
16Then 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.
17And 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.
18Then shall ye return, and discern between
the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not.