¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’^{(A) 11} then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped^(B) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.^{(C) 12} But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(D) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(E) instead of obeying me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land^(F) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^(G) and there you will serve other gods^(H) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’^(I)

¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,”^(J) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^{(K) 15} but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north^(L) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’^(M) For I will restore^(N) them to the land I gave their ancestors.^(O)

3 “I will send my messenger,^(A) who will prepare the way before me.^(B) Then suddenly the Lord^(C) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^(D) whom you desire,^(E) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure^(F) the day of his coming?^(G) Who can stand^(H) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^(I) or a launderer’s soap.^{(J) 3} He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^(K) he will purify^(L) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^(M) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{(N) 4} and the offerings^(O) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^(P)

⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^(Q) adulterers^(R) and perjurers,^(S) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^(T) who oppress the widows^(U) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^(V) among you of justice, but do not fear^(W) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(X) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{(Y) 7} Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^(Z) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^(AA) to me, and I will return to you,”^(AB) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^(AC) ‘How are we to return?’