⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^(A) adulterers^(B) and perjurers,^(C) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^(D) who oppress the widows^(E) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^(F) among you of justice, but do not fear^(G) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

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

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

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

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

“In tithes^(O) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(P)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(Q) into the storehouse,^(R) 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^(S) of heaven and pour out^(T) so much blessing^(U) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(V) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(W) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(X)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(Y) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(Z) says the Lord Almighty.^(AA)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

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

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

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