Malachi 3
New International Reader's Version
3 The Lord who rules over all says, “I will send my messenger. He will prepare my way for me. Then suddenly the Lord you are looking for will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant will come. He is the one you long for.”
2 But who can live through the day when he comes? Who will be left standing when he appears? He will be like a fire that makes things pure. He will be like soap that makes things clean. 3 He will act like one who makes silver pure. And he will purify the Levites, just as gold and silver are purified with fire. Then these men will bring proper offerings to the Lord. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to him. It will be as it was in days and years gone by.
5 “So I will come and put you on trial. I will be quick to bring charges against all of you,” says the Lord who rules over all. “I will bring charges against you sinful people who do not have any respect for me. That includes those who practice evil magic. It includes those who commit adultery and those who tell lies in court. It includes those who cheat workers out of their pay. It includes those who treat widows badly. It also includes those who mistreat children whose fathers have died. And it includes those who take away the rights of outsiders in the courts.
Breaking the Covenant by Stealing From God
6 “I am the Lord. I do not change. That is why I have not destroyed you members of Jacob’s family. 7 You have turned away from my rules. You have not obeyed them. You have lived that way ever since the days of your people of long ago. Return to me. Then I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
8 “Will a mere human being dare to steal from God? But you rob me!
“You ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“By holding back your offerings. You also steal from me when you do not bring me a tenth of everything you produce. 9 So you are under my curse. In fact, your whole nation is under my curse. That is because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the entire tenth to the storerooms in my temple. Then there will be plenty of food. Test me this way,” says the Lord. “Then you will see that I will throw open the windows of heaven. I will pour out so many blessings that you will not have enough room to store them. 11 I will keep bugs from eating up your crops. And your grapes will not drop from the vines before they are ripe,” says the Lord. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed. Your land will be delightful,” says the Lord who rules over all.
Israel Speaks With Pride Against the Lord
13 “You have spoken with pride against me,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. What do we gain by obeying his laws? And what do we get by pretending to be sad in front of the Lord? 15 But now we call proud people blessed. Things go well with those who do what is evil. And God doesn’t even punish those who test him.’ ”
Those Who Respect the Lord
16 Those who had respect for the Lord talked with one another. And the Lord heard them. A list of people and what they did was written in a book in front of him. It included the names of those who respected the Lord and honored him.
17 “The day is coming when I will judge,” says the Lord who rules over all. “On that day they will be my special treasure. I will spare them just as a father loves and spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once again you will see the difference between godly people and sinful people. And you will see the difference between those who serve me and those who do not.
Malachi 3
EasyEnglish Bible
The special person comes as a judge
3 ‘Look! I will send someone to speak my message. He will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord that you are waiting for will quickly return to his temple. The one who brings the message about the covenant will certainly come. He is the one that you really want to see.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
2 ‘But when he comes, he will be like a hot fire that makes metal pure. He will be like strong soap that makes clothes completely clean. Nobody will be able to stand in front of him when he appears. On that day, nobody will remain the same.[a] 3 He will work like a man who uses a hot fire to make gold and silver pure. He will make the Levites clean and pure. He will remove their dirt. Then they can offer proper sacrifices to the Lord. 4 The Lord will accept the gifts that the people of Judah and Jerusalem offer to him. He will be happy with them as he was in earlier times.
5 At that time, I will come among you as your judge. I will speak clearly against those who have done wrong things. I will punish the magicians, the adulterers and those who tell lies against other people. I will punish those people who are cruel to their workers, or they deceive widows or children who have no family. And I will punish those who do not help foreigners who live among them. People who do those things show that they do not respect me.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
The Israelites are robbing God
6 ‘I am the Lord and I do not change. Because of my promises to my people, I have not destroyed you, descendants of Jacob. 7 I have told you my commands. But you do not listen to me any longer. You have not obeyed me, even since the time of your ancestors. Now, return to me! Then I will return to bless you.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
‘But you ask, “How do we return to you?”
8 I say to you, “A man should not rob God. But you are robbing me.”
But you ask, “How do we rob you?”
I say, “You do not give to me the tithes and the offerings that you should give.” 9 Yes, all of you are robbing me. The whole nation of Israel is guilty. So you will receive the punishment of a curse.
10 Now you must bring the whole tithe that belongs to me.[b] Store it in my temple, so that there will be food in my house.[c] Obey me and then see what I will do.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
‘You will see how much I will bless you! You will not have enough room to store all the good things that I will give to you. I will pour blessings out of the sky like rain. 11 I will stop insects from eating your crops. The grapes will not fall from your vines before they are ready to eat. 12 You will be happy to live in your land. The people of all the other nations will see that God has blessed you.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
13 The Lord says, ‘You have spoken bad words against me.
But you ask, “What have we said against you?”
14 You have said, “We serve God, but that has not helped us at all. We are careful to do what he tells us to do. When we do wrong things, we have sad faces to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry. 15 But it is proud people that God blesses! Yes, it is the people who do evil things who become rich! God does not even punish people who like to test him. That is what we think.” ’
The great day of the Lord
16 Then the people who respected the Lord talked to each other. The Lord listened to what they said. While the Lord watched, someone wrote names on a scroll. Those were the names of the people who worshipped the Lord and respected the Lord's name. They wrote down their names so that people would remember them.
17 The Lord Almighty says, ‘These people will belong to me. One day I will come to judge everyone. At that time I will bring together all my own special people. I will not punish them. I will take care of them, like a father takes care of his son who serves him. 18 Because of that, you will see again that I am kind to good people, but I punish wicked people. I show the difference between people who serve me well and those who do not.’
Footnotes
- 3:2 The purpose of the hot fire is not to destroy the metal but to make it pure. So on this difficult day the Lord will remove from people everything that is not good.
- 3:10 The Israelites had to give some of their crops to the temple to take care of it. They also had to give something to the priests and the Levites, because they worked there. Each year they gave one part in ten (a tithe) of the crops and money that they had received. They could give more if they wanted to.
- 3:10 The temple is the place where the Israelites worshipped God.
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