^1. «BEHOLD, I am going to send My [4] messenger, and he will [3] clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; [2] and the [1] messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,» says the LORD of hosts.

^2. «But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like [5] fullers' soap.

^3. «He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD [6] offerings in righteousness.

^4. «Then the [7] offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

^5. «Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the [10] orphan, and those who turn aside the [9] alien and do not [8] fear Me,» says the LORD of hosts.

^6. «For [12] I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, [11] are not consumed.

^7. «From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,» says the LORD of hosts. «But you say, "How shall we return?'

^8. «Will a man [14] rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, "How have we robbed You?' In tithes and [13] offerings.

^9. «You are cursed with a curse, for you are [15] robbing Me, the whole nation of you!

^10. « Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be [17] food in My house, and test Me now in this,» says the LORD of hosts, «if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until [16] it overflows.

^11. «Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not [18] destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,» says the LORD of hosts.

^12. « All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,» says the LORD of hosts.

^13. «Your words have been [19] arrogant against Me,» says the LORD. «Yet you say, "What have we spoken against You?'

^14. «You have said, "It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

^15. "So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'»

^16. Then those who [21] feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who [20] fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

^17. «They will be Mine,» says the LORD of hosts, «on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.»

^18. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.