The Purifier

3 “^(A)Behold, I am sending ^(B)My ^[a]messenger, and he will ^(C)clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; ^[b]and the ^[c](D)messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies. ² “But who can ^(E)endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^(F)refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap. ³ And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^(G)purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^(H)present to the Lord ^[d]offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then the ^[e]offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^(I)pleasing to the Lord as in the ^(J)days of old, and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^(K)sorcerers, the ^(L)adulterers, against those who ^(M)swear falsely, those who ^[f]oppress the ^(N)wage earner in his wages or the ^(O)widow or the ^[g]orphan, and those who turn away the ^(P)stranger from justice and do not ^[h]fear Me,” says the Lord of armies. ⁶ “For ^[i]I, the Lord, ^(Q)do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.

⁷ “From the ^(R)days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. ^(S)Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You Have Robbed God

⁸ “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^(T)tithes and ^[j]offerings. ⁹ You are ^(U)cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! ^10 (V)Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not ^(W)open for you the windows of heaven and ^(X)pour out for you a blessing until ^[k](Y)it overflows. ¹¹ Then I will rebuke the ^(Z)devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. ¹² “^(AA)All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a ^(AB)delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.

¹³ “Your words have been ^[l]arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is ^(AC)pointless to serve God; and what ^(AD)benefit is it for us that we have done what He required, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of armies? ¹⁵ So now we ^(AE)call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and ^(AF)escape punishment.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who ^[m]feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord ^(AG)listened attentively and heard it, and a ^(AH)book of remembrance was written before Him for those who ^[n]fear the Lord and esteem His name. ¹⁷ “And they will be ^(AI)Mine,” says the Lord of armies, “on the ^(AJ)day that I ^[o]prepare My ^(AK)own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man ^(AL)has compassion for his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ So you will again ^(AM)distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Final Admonition

4 “^[p]For behold, the day is coming, ^(AN)burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be ^(AO)chaff; and the day that is coming will ^(AP)set them ablaze,” says the Lord of armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branches. ² But for you who ^[q]fear My name, the ^(AQ)sun of righteousness will rise with ^(AR)healing in its wings; and you will go forth and ^(AS)frolic like calves from the stall. ³ And you will ^(AT)crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ^(AU)ashes under the soles of your feet ^(AV)on the day ^[r]that I am preparing,” says the Lord of armies.

⁴ “^(AW)Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

⁵ “Behold, I am going to send you ^(AX)Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. ⁶ He will ^(AY)turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and ^(AZ)strike the land with complete destruction.”

The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord.

Fate of Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and ^(A)kept back some of the ^[a]proceeds for himself, with his wife’s ^[b]full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he ^(B)laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(C)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(D)to the Holy Spirit and to ^(E)keep back some of the ^[c]proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not ^[d]under your control? Why is it that you have ^[e]conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but ^(F)to God.” ⁵ And as he heard these words, Ananias ^(G)collapsed and ^[f]died; and ^(H)great fear came over all who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up and ^(I)covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

⁷ Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land ^(J)for ^[g]this price?” And she said, “Yes, for ^[h]that price.” ⁹ Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to ^(K)put ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” ¹⁰ And immediately she ^(M)collapsed at his feet and ^[i]died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(N)great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

^12 [j]At the hands of the apostles many ^[k](O)signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all ^[l]together in ^(P)Solomon’s ^[m]portico. ¹³ But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, ^(Q)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And increasingly ^(R)believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being ^(S)added to their number, ¹⁵ to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by ^(T)at least his shadow might fall on any of them. ¹⁶ The ^[n]people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick ^[o]or tormented with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

Imprisonment and Release

¹⁷ But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is ^(U)the sect of ^(V)the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They laid hands on the apostles and ^(W)put them in a public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night ^(X)an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said, ²⁰ “Go, stand and ^[p]speak to the people in the temple area ^[q](Y)the whole message of this Life.” ²¹ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area ^(Z)about daybreak and began to teach.

Now when ^(AA)the high priest and his associates came, they called ^(AB)the ^[r]Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought. ²² But ^(AC)the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “We found the prison locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when ^(AD)the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what ^[s]would come of this. ²⁵ But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple area and teaching the people!” ²⁶ Then ^(AE)the captain went along with ^(AF)the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for ^(AG)they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷ When they had brought them, they had them stand ^[t]before ^(AH)the Council. The high priest interrogated them, ²⁸ saying, “We gave you ^(AI)strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and ^[u]yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and ^(AJ)intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “^(AK)We must obey God rather than men. ^30 (AL)The God of our fathers ^(AM)raised up Jesus, whom you ^(AN)put to death by hanging Him on ^[v](AO)a cross. ^31 (AP)He is the one whom God exalted ^[w]to His right hand as a ^[x](AQ)Prince and a ^(AR)Savior, to grant ^(AS)repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are ^(AT)witnesses ^[y]of these things; and ^(AU)so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Counsel

³³ But when they heard this, they became ^(AV)infuriated and nearly decided to execute them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee named ^(AW)Gamaliel, a ^(AX)teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in ^(AY)the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For, some time ago Theudas appeared, ^(AZ)claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. ^[z]But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of ^(BA)the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or ^[aa]movement ^(BB)is men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹ but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found ^(BC)fighting against God.”

⁴⁰ They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they ^(BD)flogged them and ordered them not to ^[ab]speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the ^[ac](BE)Council, ^(BF)rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame ^(BG)for His name. ^42 (BH)And every day, in the temple and ^[ad]from house to house, they did not stop teaching and ^(BI)preaching the good news of Jesus as the ^[ae]Christ.