| 3:1 | “I am about to send my messenger,* who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord* you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger* of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all. |
| 3:2 | Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire,* like a launderer’s soap. |
| 3:3 | He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. |
| 3:4 | The offerings* of Judah and Jerusalem* will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past. |
| 3:5 | “I* will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises,* and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans,* who refuse to help* the immigrant* and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all. |
| 3:6 | “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises,* you, sons of Jacob, have not perished. |
| 3:7 | From the days of your ancestors you have ignored* my commandments* and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “But you say, ‘How should we return?’ |
| 3:8 | Can a person rob* God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions!* |
| 3:9 | You are bound for judgment* because you are robbing me – this whole nation is guilty.* |
| 3:10 | “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse* so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. |
| 3:11 | Then I will stop the plague* from ruining your crops,* and the vine will not lose its fruit before harvest,” says the Lord who rules over all. |
| 3:12 | “All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in* a delightful land,” says the Lord who rules over all. |
| 3:13 | “You have criticized me sharply,”* says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ |
| 3:14 | You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped* by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all?* |
| 3:15 | So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful.* In fact, those who challenge* God escape!’” |
| 3:16 | Then those who respected* the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice.* A scroll* was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. |
| 3:17 | “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property.* I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. |
| 3:18 | Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between* the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not. |
Malachi 3 - NET Bible [draft]
