CHAPTER 3

1 Behold I will send my messenger, And he will clear the way before me: And presently he shall come to his temple, The Lord whom ye seek, Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye desire; Behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts.

2 But who will endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears. For he will be like a purifying fire And like the herb of the fullers:

3 And he shall sit as the purifier and cleanser of silver, And he will cleanse the sons of Levi, And fuse them as silver and gold,

4 That they may offer to Jehovah An offering in righteousness; And acceptable to Jehovah Shall be the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, As in the days of old, as in former years.

5 I will also draw nigh to you for judgment, And will be a swift witness Against the sorcerers and the adulterers And those who swear to a falsehood, And who withhold the wages of the hireling, And wrong the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, And who fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.

6 Because I am Jehovah, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

7 From the days of your fathers Ye have turned from my statutes and have not kept them; Return to me, and I will return to you, Saith Jehovah of hosts: But ye have said, How are we to return?

8 Will a man rob the gods? (585) But ye have robbed me: yet ye have said, In what have we robbed thee? In the tithes and in the offerings.

9 With a curse are ye cursed, For ye have robbed me, the whole of the nation.

10 Bring ye all the tithes to the store-house, And let there be food in my house; And prove me now by this, Saith Jehovah of hosts, Whether I will not open for you The windows of heaven, And draw out for you a blessing, Until there be a superabundance:

11 I will also restrain for you the devourer, That he may not destroy the fruit of your land; And not fruitless will be the vine for you in the field, Saith Jehovah of hosts.

12 Then blessed shall all nations call you, For ye shall be a land of delight, Saith Jehovah of hosts.

13 Strong against me have been your words, Saith Jehovah of hosts: But ye have said, In what have we spoken against thee? Ye have said, Vain it is to serve God,

14 And what profit is it, That we have kept his charge, And that we have walked humbly Before Jehovah of hosts:

15 And now happy we call the proud; yea, built up are they who do iniquity, And those who tempt God, and they are delivered.

16 Then spake those who feared Jehovah, Every one to his friend; And hearken did Jehovah and hear, And written was a book of remembrance Before him, for those who feared Jehovah And who thought on his name:

17 And they shall be to me, saith Jehovah of hosts, In the day which I appoint, a peculiar treasure; And I will spare them, As a man spares his son who serves him.

18 Then ye shall return and see the difference Between the righteous and the ungodly, Between him who serves God And him who does not serve him.