Malachi 3
New Living Translation
The Coming Day of Judgment
3 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. 4 Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.
5 “At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
A Call to Repentance
6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord.
“But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? 15 From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’”
The Lord’s Promise of Mercy
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.
17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
Footnotes
- 3:11 Hebrew from the devourer.
Malachi 3
Tree of Life Version
My Messenger is Coming
3 “Behold, I am sending My messenger[a],
and he will clear the way before Me.[b]
Suddenly He will come to His Temple
—the Lord whom you seek—
and the Messenger of the covenant
—the One whom you desire—
behold, He is coming,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
2 But who can endure the day of His coming?
Or who can stand when He appears?[c]
For He will be like a refiner’s fire,[d]
and like soap for cleaning raw wool.
3 And He will sit as a smelter or a purifier of silver,
and He will cleanse the sons of Levi,
and purify them like gold or silver.
Then they will become for Adonai
those who present an offering in righteousness.
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Adonai,
as in days of antiquity and years of old.
5 “Then I will draw near to you in judgment,
and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers
those who extort a worker’s wage,
or oppress the widow or an orphan,
those who mislead a stranger.
They do not fear Me,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
6 “For I am Adonai. I do not change,
So you, children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Bring the Whole Tithe
7 “From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
Yet you say: “How should we return?”
8 “Will a man rob[e] God? For you are robbing Me!”
But you say: “How have we robbed You?”
“In the tithe and the offering. 9 You have been cursed with the curse, yet you keep robbing Me—the whole nation! 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then there will be food in My House. Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough. 11 I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field,” Adonai-Tzva’ot says. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
13 “Your words against Me are grievous,” says Adonai.
Yet you say: “What did we say against You?”
14 You say: “Serving God is worthless.” Also: “What good is it that we kept His service or that we walked as mourners before Adonai-Tzva’ot? 15 So now we are calling the proud blessed. Those who practice iniquity are built up. Indeed, they have tested God, and escaped!”
16 Then those who revere Adonai spoke with each other, and Adonai took notice and heard, and a scroll of remembrance[f] was written before Him, for those who revere Adonai, even those who esteem His Name.
17 “So they shall be Mine,”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“in the day I make My own special possession. So I will spare them, as one spares his son serving him. 18 Then you will return and distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
The Day Is Coming
19 [g]“For behold, the day is coming
—it will burn like a furnace—
when all the proud and every evildoer will become stubble.
The day that is coming will set them ablaze”
—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—
“leaving them neither root nor branch.”
20 “But for you who revere My Name,
the sun of righteousness will rise,
with healing in its wings.
Then you will go forth and skip about
like calves from the stall.
21 You will trample on the wicked,
for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet
in the day that I am making,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
22 “Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, whom I commanded at Horeb—statutes and ordinances for all Israel.
23 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet[h], before the coming of the great and terrible day of Adonai. 24 He will turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and the hearts of children to their fathers—else I will come and strike the land with utter destruction.”
Footnotes
- Malachi 3:1 Heb. Malachi.
- Malachi 3:1 cf. Matt. 3:3; 11:10.
- Malachi 3:2 cf. Rev. 6:17.
- Malachi 3:2 cf. Matt. 3:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:13-15.
- Malachi 3:8 Or hold back or defraud.
- Malachi 3:16 cf. Luke 10:20; Rev. 3:5; 20:11-15.
- Malachi 3:19 Traditional Christian texts have Chapter 4:1-6.
- Malachi 3:23 cf. Matt. 11:14; 17:10-13; Mark 9:11-13; Luke 1:17; John 1:21.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.