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)

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(A) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{(B) 7} Ever 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?’

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

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4 ^[a]“Surely the day is coming;^(A) it will burn like a furnace.^(B) All the arrogant^(C) and every evildoer will be stubble,^(D) and the day that is coming will set them on fire,^(E)” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^(F) will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name,^(G) the sun of righteousness^(H) will rise with healing^(I) in its rays. And you will go out and frolic^(J) like well-fed calves. ³ Then you will trample^(K) on the wicked; they will be ashes^(L) under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

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

⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah^(P) to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.^{(Q) 6} He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,^(R) and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike^(S) the land with total destruction.”^(T)

⁴ But when the set time had fully come,^(A) God sent his Son,^(B) born of a woman,^(C) born under the law,^{(D) 5} to redeem^(E) those under the law, that we might receive adoption^(F) to sonship.^{[a](G) 6} Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son^(H) into our hearts,^(I) the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,^[b] Father.”^(J)