Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

¹⁷ You have wearied^(A) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.^(B)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased^(C) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?^(D)”

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

² But who can endure^(J) the day of his coming?^(K) Who can stand^(L) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^(M) or a launderer’s soap.^{(N) 3} He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^(O) he will purify^(P) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^(Q) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{(R) 4} and the offerings^(S) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^(T)

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

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

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

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

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

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

“In tithes^(AI) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(AJ)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(AK) into the storehouse,^(AL) 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^(AM) of heaven and pour out^(AN) so much blessing^(AO) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(AP) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(AQ) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(AR)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(AS) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(AT) says the Lord Almighty.^(AU)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

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

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

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