Malachi 3:6-4

New International Version

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶“I the Lord do not change.^(A) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^(B) ⁷Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^(C) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^(D) to me, and I will return to you,”^(E) says the Lord Almighty.

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

⁸“Will a mere mortal rob^(G) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(H) and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse^(I)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe^(J) into the storehouse,^(K) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(L) of heaven and pour out^(M) so much blessing^(N) that there will not be room enough to store it.^(O) ¹¹I will prevent pests from devouring^(P) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(Q)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹²“Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(R) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(S) says the Lord Almighty.^(T)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³“You have spoken arrogantly^(U) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^(V) ‘What have we said against you?’

¹⁴“You have said, ‘It is futile^(W) to serve^(X) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^(Y) and going about like mourners^(Z) before the Lord Almighty? ¹⁵But now we call the arrogant^(AA) blessed. Certainly evildoers^(AB) prosper,^(AC) and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^(AD) A scroll^(AE) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^(AF) the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^(AG) treasured possession.^(AH) I will spare^(AI) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^(AJ) who serves him. ¹⁸And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^(AK) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.^(AL)

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4 ^[a]“Surely the day is coming;^(AM) it will burn like a furnace.^(AN) All the arrogant^(AO) and every evildoer will be stubble,^(AP) and the day that is coming will set them on fire,^(AQ)” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^(AR) will be left to them. ²But for you who revere my name,^(AS) the sun of righteousness^(AT) will rise with healing^(AU) in its rays. And you will go out and frolic^(AV) like well-fed calves. ³Then you will trample^(AW) on the wicked; they will be ashes^(AX) under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁴“Remember the law^(AY) of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb^(AZ) for all Israel.^(BA)

⁵“See, I will send the prophet Elijah^(BB) to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.^(BC) ⁶He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,^(BD) and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike^(BE) the land with total destruction.”^(BF)

Footnotes

Malachi 4:1 In Hebrew texts 4:1-6 is numbered 3:19-24.

Proverbs 5-6

New International Version

Warning Against Adultery

5 My son,^(A) pay attention to my wisdom,
    turn your ear to my words^(B) of insight,
²that you may maintain discretion
    and your lips may preserve knowledge.
³For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil;^(C)
⁴but in the end she is bitter as gall,^(D)
    sharp as a double-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.^(E)
⁶She gives no thought to the way of life;
    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.^(F)

⁷Now then, my sons, listen^(G) to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸Keep to a path far from her,^(H)
    do not go near the door of her house,
⁹lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity^[a] to one who is cruel,
¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.^(I)
¹¹At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹²You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!^(J)
¹³I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴And I was soon in serious trouble^(K)
    in the assembly of God’s people.”^(L)

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸May your fountain^(M) be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.^(N)
¹⁹A loving doe, a graceful deer^(O)—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
²⁰Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹For your ways are in full view^(P) of the Lord,
    and he examines^(Q) all your paths.^(R)
²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;^(S)
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.^(T)
²³For lack of discipline they will die,^(U)
    led astray by their own great folly.^(V)

Warnings Against Folly

6 My son,^(W) if you have put up security^(X) for your neighbor,^(Y)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge^(Z) for a stranger,
²you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
³So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—^[b]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.^(AA)
⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle^(AB) from the hand of the hunter,^(AC)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.^(AD)

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard;^(AE)
    consider its ways and be wise!
⁷It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
⁸yet it stores its provisions in summer^(AF)
    and gathers its food at harvest.^(AG)

⁹How long will you lie there, you sluggard?^(AH)
    When will you get up from your sleep?
¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest^(AI)—
¹¹and poverty^(AJ) will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

¹²A troublemaker and a villain,
    who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
¹³    who winks maliciously with his eye,^(AK)
    signals with his feet
    and motions with his fingers,^(AL)
¹⁴    who plots evil^(AM) with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.^(AN)
¹⁵Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;^(AO)
    he will suddenly^(AP) be destroyed—without remedy.^(AQ)

¹⁶There are six things the Lord hates,^(AR)
    seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷        haughty eyes,^(AS)
        a lying tongue,^(AT)
        hands that shed innocent blood,^(AU)
¹⁸        a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,^(AV)
¹⁹        a false witness^(AW) who pours out lies^(AX)
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.^(AY)

Warning Against Adultery

²⁰My son,^(AZ) keep your father’s command
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.^(BA)
²¹Bind them always on your heart;
    fasten them around your neck.^(BB)
²²When you walk, they will guide you;
    when you sleep, they will watch over you;
    when you awake, they will speak to you.
²³For this command is a lamp,
    this teaching is a light,^(BC)
and correction and instruction
    are the way to life,^(BD)
²⁴keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
    from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.^(BE)

²⁵Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²⁶For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
    but another man’s wife preys on your very life.^(BF)
²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    without his clothes being burned?
²⁸Can a man walk on hot coals
    without his feet being scorched?
²⁹So is he who sleeps^(BG) with another man’s wife;^(BH)
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.

³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
³¹Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,^(BI)
    though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
³²But a man who commits adultery^(BJ) has no sense;^(BK)
    whoever does so destroys himself.
³³Blows and disgrace are his lot,
    and his shame will never^(BL) be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy^(BM) arouses a husband’s fury,^(BN)
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
³⁵He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.^(BO)