Malachi 3:1-4

New King James Version

The Coming Messenger

3 “Behold, ^(A)I send My messenger,
And he will ^(B)prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
^(C)Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, ^(D)He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

²“But who can endure ^(E)the day of His coming?
And ^(F)who can stand when He appears?
For ^(G)He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
³^(H)He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And ^[a]purge them as gold and silver,
That they may ^(I)offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

⁴“Then ^(J)the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be ^[b]pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.

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Footnotes

Malachi 3:3 Or refine
Malachi 3:4 pleasing

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

New King James Version

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

4 Let a man so consider us, as ^(A)servants of Christ ^(B)and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human ^[a]court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. ⁵^(C)Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to ^(D)light the hidden things of darkness and ^(E)reveal the ^[b]counsels of the hearts. ^(F)Then each one’s praise will come from God.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 4:3 Lit. day
1 Corinthians 4:5 motives

Luke 3:1-6

New King James Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^(B)Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²^[a]while ^(C)Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to ^(D)John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ³^(E)And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^(F)for the remission of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

^(G)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.
⁵Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
⁶And ^(H)all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”