Malachi 3

1 “Look — I am sending my messenger, and he will inspect the way before me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into his temple, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Look — he is coming,”

says the Lord Almighty.

2 “But who will endure the day of his coming? Who will stand when he appears? For he comes like the fire of a furnace and like the washing plant used by launderers.

3 He will sit as one melting and purifying silver and gold. He will purify the sons of Levi and pour them out like gold and silver, and they will offer the Lord an offering in righteousness.

4 Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in the former days and years.

5 I will draw near to you in judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorceresses, adulteresses, those who swear falsely by my name, those who hold back a worker’s wages, those who oppress the widow, strike the fatherless, turn aside the newcomer’s judgment, and do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

6 “For I am the Lord your God, and I have not changed. But you, sons of Jacob, have not held back

7 from the wrongdoing of your fathers. You have turned aside from my practices and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,”

says the Lord Almighty. But you ask,

“How shall we return?”

8 “Will a person cheat God? Yet you are cheating me. And you ask,”

“How have we cheated you?”

“Because the tenths and firstfruits are still with you.

9 You surely look away from me and cheat me; the nation has come to an end.

10 You have brought all the produce into the storehouses, but its plunder will be in its house. Test me now in this matter,”

says the Lord Almighty.

“See whether I will not open the torrents of heaven for you and pour out my blessing until you are satisfied.

11 I will appoint food for you and will not destroy the fruit of your land. Your vine in the field will not fail,” says the Lord Almighty.

12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, because you will be a desirable land,”

says the Lord Almighty.

13 “You have spoken harsh words against me,”

says the Lord. Yet you ask,

“What have we said against you?”

14 “You have said,”

“The one who serves God labors for nothing. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking as people pleading before the Lord Almighty?

15 Now we call strangers blessed. Everyone who acts lawlessly is built up; they have resisted God and still escaped.”

16 Those who feared the Lord spoke these things to one another. The Lord paid attention and listened, and he wrote a book of remembrance before him for those who feared the Lord and revered his name.

17 “They will be mine,”

says the Lord Almighty,

“on the day I appoint as my special possession. I will choose them as a man chooses his son who serves him.

18 Then you will return and discern between the righteous and the lawless, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”