¹³ Your words are too much for me, says the Lord.
    You ask, “What have we spoken against you?”
^14 (A)You have said, “It is useless to serve God;
    what do we gain by observing God’s requirements,
And by going about as mourners^[a]
    before the Lord of hosts?
¹⁵ But we call the arrogant blessed;
    for evildoers not only prosper
    but even test God and escape.”
^16 (B)Then those who fear the Lord spoke with one another,
    and the Lord listened attentively;
A record book^[b] was written before him
    of those who fear the Lord and esteem his name.
^17 (C)They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts,
    my own special possession, on the day when I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
    as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
¹⁸ Then you will again distinguish
    between the just and the wicked,
Between the person who serves God,
    and the one who does not.
^19 (D)For the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
    when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
    leaving them neither root nor branch,
    says the Lord of hosts.
^20 (E)But for you who fear my name, the sun of justice
    will arise with healing in its wings;^[c]
And you will go out leaping like calves from the stall
²¹     and tread down the wicked;
They will become dust under the soles of your feet,
    on the day when I take action, says the Lord of hosts.