Malachi 2:17-3:7

English Standard Version

The Messenger of the Lord

¹⁷^(A)You have wearied the Lord with your words. ^(B)But you say, “How have we wearied him?” ^(C)By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, ^(D)“Where is the God of justice?”

3 ^(E)“Behold, I send ^(F)my messenger, and ^(G)he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord ^(H)whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ^(I)the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ²But ^(J)who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For ^(K)he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. ³He will sit ^(L)as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring ^(M)offerings in righteousness to the Lord.^[a] ⁴^(N)Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be ^(O)a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those ^(P)who oppress the hired worker in his wages, ^(Q)the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Robbing God

⁶“For ^(R)I the Lord do not change; ^(S)therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ⁷^(T)From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. ^(U)Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ^(V)But you say, ‘How shall we return?’