The Purifier

3 “^(A)Behold, I am sending ^(B)My ^[a]messenger, and he will ^(C)clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; ^[b]and the ^[c](D)messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies. ² “But who can ^(E)endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^(F)refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap. ³ And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^(G)purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^(H)present to the Lord ^[d]offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then the ^[e]offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^(I)pleasing to the Lord as in the ^(J)days of old, and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^(K)sorcerers, the ^(L)adulterers, against those who ^(M)swear falsely, those who ^[f]oppress the ^(N)wage earner in his wages or the ^(O)widow or the ^[g]orphan, and those who turn away the ^(P)stranger from justice and do not ^[h]fear Me,” says the Lord of armies. ⁶ “For ^[i]I, the Lord, ^(Q)do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.

⁷ “From the ^(R)days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. ^(S)Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You Have Robbed God

⁸ “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^(T)tithes and ^[j]offerings. ⁹ You are ^(U)cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! ^10 (V)Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not ^(W)open for you the windows of heaven and ^(X)pour out for you a blessing until ^[k](Y)it overflows. ¹¹ Then I will rebuke the ^(Z)devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. ¹² “^(AA)All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a ^(AB)delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.

¹³ “Your words have been ^[l]arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is ^(AC)pointless to serve God; and what ^(AD)benefit is it for us that we have done what He required, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of armies? ¹⁵ So now we ^(AE)call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and ^(AF)escape punishment.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who ^[m]feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord ^(AG)listened attentively and heard it, and a ^(AH)book of remembrance was written before Him for those who ^[n]fear the Lord and esteem His name. ¹⁷ “And they will be ^(AI)Mine,” says the Lord of armies, “on the ^(AJ)day that I ^[o]prepare My ^(AK)own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man ^(AL)has compassion for his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ So you will again ^(AM)distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Israel Invoked to Praise the Lord.

The New Heaven and Earth

21 Then I saw ^(A)a new heaven and a new earth; for ^(B)the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ² And I saw ^(C)the holy city, ^(D)new Jerusalem, ^(E)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(F)prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, ^(G)the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will ^(H)dwell among them, and they shall be His ^[a]people, and God Himself will be among them^[b], ⁴ and He will ^(I)wipe away every tear from their eyes; and ^(J)there will no longer be any death; ^(K)there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; ^(L)the first things have passed away.”

⁵ And ^(M)He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am ^(N)making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for ^(O)these words are faithful and true.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “^[c](P)It is done. I am the ^(Q)Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. ^(R)I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the ^(S)water of life, without cost. ^7 (T)The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and ^(U)I will be his God and he will be My son. ^8 (V)But for the cowardly, and ^[d]unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in ^(W)the lake that burns with fire and ^[e]brimstone, which is the ^(X)second death.”

^9 (Y)Then one of the seven angels who had the ^(Z)seven bowls, ^[f]full of the ^(AA)seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “^(AB)Come here, I will show you the ^(AC)bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

The New Jerusalem

¹⁰ And ^(AD)he carried me away ^[g](AE)in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me ^(AF)the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, ¹¹ having ^(AG)the glory of God. Her ^[h]brilliance was like a very valuable stone, like a ^(AH)stone of ^(AI)crystal-clear jasper. ^12 [i]It had a great and high wall, ^[j](AJ)with twelve ^(AK)gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city had ^(AL)twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the ^(AM)twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The one who spoke with me had a ^[k]gold measuring ^(AN)rod to measure the city, its ^(AO)gates, and its wall. ¹⁶ The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the ^[l]rod, ^[m]twelve thousand stadia; its length, width, and height are equal. ¹⁷ And he measured its wall, ^[n]144 cubits, by ^(AP)human ^[o]measurements, which are also ^(AQ)angelic measurements. ¹⁸ The material of the wall was ^(AR)jasper; and the city was ^(AS)pure gold, like ^[p]clear ^(AT)glass. ^19 (AU)The foundation stones of the city wall were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was ^(AV)jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, ^(AW)emerald; ²⁰ the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, ^(AX)sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve ^(AY)gates were twelve ^(AZ)pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was ^(BA)pure gold, like transparent ^(BB)glass.

²² I saw ^(BC)no ^[q]temple in it, for the ^(BD)Lord God the Almighty and the ^(BE)Lamb are its ^[r]temple. ²³ And the city ^(BF)has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for ^(BG)the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the ^(BH)Lamb. ^24 (BI)The nations will walk by its light, and the ^(BJ)kings of the earth ^[s]will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ In the daytime (for ^(BK)there will be no night there) ^(BL)its gates ^(BM)will never be closed; ²⁶ and ^(BN)they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; ²⁷ and ^(BO)nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those ^[t]whose names are ^(BP)written in the Lamb’s book of life.