The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Malachi 3
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he
will prepare the way before me! The Lord,
whom you seek, will suddenly come to
his temple. Behold, the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, is coming!”
says Yahweh of Armies.
2 “But who can endure the day of his
coming? And who will stand when he
appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and
like launderers’ soap;
3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver, and he will purify the sons of
Levi, and refine them as gold and silver;
and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in
righteousness.
4 Then the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh as
in the days of old and as in ancient years.
5 I will come near to you to judgment. I
will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,
against the adulterers, against the perjurers,
and against those who oppress the
hireling in his wages, the widow, and the
fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner
of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh
of Armies.
6 “For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore
you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
7 From the days of your fathers you
have turned away from my ordinances
and have not kept them. Return to me,
and I will return to you,” says Yahweh
of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we
return?’
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me!
But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In
tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with the curse; for you
rob me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house,
and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of
Armies, “ifI will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there will not be enough room for.
11 I will rebuke the devourer for your
sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of
your ground; neither shall your vine cast
its fruit before its time in the field,” says
Yahweh of Armies.
12 “All nations shall call you blessed, for
you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh
of Armies.
13 “Your words have been harsh against
me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What
have we spoken against you?’
14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God,’
and ‘What profitis itthat we have followed
his instructions and that we have walked
mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
15 Now we call the proud happy; yes,
those who work wickedness are built up;
yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke
one with another; and Yahweh listened
and heard, and a book of memory was
written before him for those who feared
Yahweh and who honored his name.
17 They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of
Armies, “my own possession in the day
that I make. I will spare them, as a man
spares his own son who serves him.
18 Then you shall return and
discern between the righteous
and the wicked, between him who
serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.