Malachi 3
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.
5 And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
(K)Against perjurers,
Against those who (L)exploit wage earners and (M)widows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien—
Because they do not fear Me,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I am the Lord, (N)I do not change;
(O)Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of (P)your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
(Q)Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
(R)“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’
Do Not Rob God
8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
(S)In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 (T)Bring all the tithes into the (U)storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the (V)windows of heaven
And (W)pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke (X)the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be (Y)a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
The People Complain Harshly
13 “Your(Z) words have been [c]harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 (AA)You have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now (AB)we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are [d]raised up;
They even (AC)tempt God and go free.’ ”
A Book of Remembrance
16 Then those (AD)who feared the Lord (AE)spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So (AF)a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who [e]meditate on His name.
17 “They(AG) shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My (AH)jewels.[f]
And (AI)I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 (AJ)Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
Footnotes
- Malachi 3:3 Or refine
- Malachi 3:4 pleasing
- Malachi 3:13 Lit. strong
- Malachi 3:15 Lit. built
- Malachi 3:16 Or esteem
- Malachi 3:17 Lit. special treasure
Malachi 3
Orthodox Jewish Bible
3 Hineni, I will send malachi, and he shall prepare the Derech before me: and HaAdon (the L-rd [Moshiach] Zech 4:14), whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Heikhal, even the Malach HaBrit, in whom ye have chafetz (delight): hinei, He is coming, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
2 But who may abide the Yom Bo’o (day of His coming)? Who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s eish, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of kesef; and He shall purify the Bnei Levi, and purge them as zahav and kesef, that they may offer unto Hashem an offering in tzedakah.
4 Then shall the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim be pleasing unto Hashem, as in the yamei olam (days of old), and as in shanim kadmoniyyot (former years).
5 And I will come near to you for mishpat; and I will be a swift ed (witness) against the mekhashfim (sorcerers), and against the mena’afim (adulterers), and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the almanah (widow), and the fatherless, and that turn aside the ger from his right, and fear not Me, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
6 For I am Hashem, I change not; therefore ye Bnei Ya’akov are not consumed.
7 Even from the yamei avoteichem ye are gone away from Mine chukkim, and have not been shomer over them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith Hashem Tzva’os. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob G-d? Yet ye have robbed Me [Ex 20:15]. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In ma’aser (tithes) and terumah (offerings, contributions).
9 Ye are cursed with a me’erah (curse); for ye have robbed Me, even this whole Goy (nation).
10 Bring ye kol hama’aser (all the tithes) into the Beis HaOtzar (House of the Treasury), that there may be teref (food) in Mine Beis [Hamikdash], and prove Me now herewith, saith Hashem Tzva’os, if I will not open you the windows of Shomayim, and pour you out a brocha, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the p’ri ha’adamah; neither shall your gefen cast her fruit before the time in the sadeh, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
12 And kol HaGoyim shall call you blessed; for ye shall be an Eretz Chefetz, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
13 Your devarim have been harsh against Me, saith Hashem. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee?
14 Ye have said, Avod Elohim is vain; and what profit is it that we have been shomer over His mishmeret, and that we have walked as mourners before Hashem Tzva’os?
15 And now we call the zedim (proud) happy; yea, they that work rishah (wickedness) are set up; yea, they that tempt Elohim even go free.
16 Then they that feared Hashem spoke often one to another; and Hashem paid heed, and heard it, and a Sefer Zikaron (book of remembrance) was written before Him for them that feared Hashem, and that meditated upon Shmo (His Name).
17 And they shall be Mine, saith Hashem Tzva’os, in that Yom when I make up My segullah (special treasure, possession); and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own ben haoved oto (son that serveth him).
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the tzaddik and the rasha, between oved Elohim (him that serveth G-d) and him that serveth Him not.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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