Praise the Name of the Lord

3 ^(A)“Behold, I send ^(B)my messenger, and ^(C)he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord ^(D)whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ^(E)the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But ^(F)who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For ^(G)he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. ³ He will sit ^(H)as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring ^(I)offerings in righteousness to the Lord.^{[a] 4 (J)}Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be ^(K)a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those ^(L)who oppress the hired worker in his wages, ^(M)the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Robbing God

⁶ “For ^(N)I the Lord do not change; ^(O)therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ^7 (P)From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. ^(Q)Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ^(R)But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ ⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. ^(S)But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ ^(T)In your tithes and contributions. ^9 (U)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ^10 (V)Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby ^(W)put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open ^(X)the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke ^(Y)the devourer^[b] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then ^(Z)all nations will call you blessed, for you will be ^(AA)a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

^13 (AB)“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. ^(AC)But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ^(AD)‘It is vain to serve God. ^(AE)What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵ And now we call ^(AF)the arrogant blessed. ^(AG)Evildoers not only prosper but ^(AH)they put God to the test and they escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord ^(AI)spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and ^(AJ)a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. ¹⁷ “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, ^(AK)in the day when I make up ^(AL)my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸ Then once more you shall ^(AM)see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Many Signs and Wonders Done

¹² Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people ^(A)by the hands of the apostles. And they were all ^(B)together in ^(C)Solomon's Portico. ¹³ None of the rest dared join them, but ^(D)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And ^(E)more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ^15 (F)so that they even ^(G)carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by ^(H)at least his shadow might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, ^(I)bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.