Malachi 2:17-3:5

Common English Bible

Purifying judgment

¹⁷You have made the Lord tired with your words.
You say, “How have we made him tired?”
    When you say:
        “Anyone doing evil is good in the Lord’s eyes,”
        or “He delights in those doing evil,”^[a]
        or “Where is the God of justice?”

3 Look, I am sending my messenger who will clear the path before me;
        suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking will come to his temple.
        The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
²Who can endure the day of his coming?
        Who can withstand his appearance?
He is like the refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap.
³He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
        He will purify the Levites
            and refine them like gold and silver.
            They will belong to the Lord,
                presenting a righteous offering.
⁴The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
        as in ancient days and in former years.
⁵I will draw near to you for judgment.
I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers,
    the adulterers, those swearing falsely,
        against those who cheat the day laborers out of their wages
        as well as oppress the widow and the orphan,
            and against those who brush aside the foreigner and do not revere me,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.