Malachi 3
3
The Promised Messenger
1 #
Mt 11.10; Mk 1.2; Lk 1.76; 7.27. I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will send my messenger
to prepare the way for me.
Then suddenly the Lord
you are looking for
will appear in his temple.
The messenger you desire
is coming with my promise,
and he is on his way.
A Day of Change
2 #
Jl 2.11; Rev 6.17. On the day the Lord comes, he will be like a furnace that purifies silver or like strong soap in a washbasin. No one will be able to stand up to him. 3The Lord will purify the descendants of Levi,#3.3 descendants of Levi: The priests. as though they were gold or silver. Then they will bring the proper offerings to the Lord, 4and the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will please him, just as they did in the past.
Don't Cheat God
5The Lord All-Powerful said:
I'm now on my way to judge you. And I will quickly condemn all who practice witchcraft or cheat in marriage or tell lies in court or rob workers of their pay or mistreat widows and orphans or steal the property of foreigners or refuse to respect me.
6 #
Si 48.10. Descendants of Jacob, I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. That's why you haven't been wiped out, 7even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you.
And yet you ask, “How can we return?”
8You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?”
You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.#3.8 the ten percent … to me: The people of Israel were supposed to give a tenth of their harvests and of their flocks and herds to the Lord (see Leviticus 27.30-33; Deuteronomy 14.22-29). 9That's why your whole nation is under a curse. 10#Lv 27.30; Nu 18.21-24; Dt 12.5-19; 14.22-29; Ne 13.12. I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.#3.10 open the windows … blessing: This may refer to rain, since there seems to have been a terrible drought at this time. 11I will also stop locusts#3.11 locusts: A kind of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life. from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing. 12Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken!
13You have said horrible things about me, and yet you ask, “What have we said?”
14Here is what you have said: “It's foolish to serve the Lord God All-Powerful. What do we get for obeying God and from going around looking sad? 15See how happy those arrogant people are. Everyone who does wrong is successful, and when they put God to the test, they always get away with it.”
Faithfulness Is Rewarded
16All those who truly respected the Lord and honored his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their names#3.16 names: Or “deeds.” written as a reminder in his book.
17Then the Lord All-Powerful said:
You people are precious to me, and when I come to bring justice, I will protect you, just as parents protect an obedient child. 18Then everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong.
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Malachi 3: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Malachias (Malachi) 3
3
1Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.
2And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb:
3And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.
4And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.
5And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages; the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.
6For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return?
8Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.
9And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you.
10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance.
11And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts.
12And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.
13Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.
14And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?
15Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.
16Then they that feared the Lord spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name.
17And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.
18And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.