Malachi 3:13-18 (New International Version)

 ¹³ "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD.
      "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?'

 ¹⁴ "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? ¹⁵ But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

 ¹⁶ Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

 ¹⁷ "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. ^[a] I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸ And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.