1Look, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in. Look, he will come, says the LORD of hosts.
2But who can endure the day of his coming? Who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like the soap of those who wash clothes.
3He will sit as one who refines and purifies silver. He will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may bring to the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in years gone by.
5I will come near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against those who commit adultery, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who cheat the hired worker of his wages, and who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and who turn the stranger away from his right, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
6For I am the LORD, I do not change. That is why you, the sons of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7Ever since the days of your fathers you have turned away from my laws, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, "How shall we return?"
8Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, "How have we robbed you?" In tithes and offerings.
9You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, this whole nation of you.
10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this now, says the LORD of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you, and pour out a blessing on you, until there is no room enough to hold it.
11I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, and it will not destroy the fruits of your ground. The vine in your field will not drop its fruit before the time, says the LORD of hosts.
12All nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts.
13Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, "What have we said so much against you?"
14You have said, "It is useless to serve God. What do we gain by keeping his commands, and by walking in mourning before the LORD of hosts?"
15"Now we call the proud happy. Those who do wickedness are built up. Those who put God to the test are even delivered."
16Then those who feared the LORD spoke often to one another. And the LORD listened and heard it. A book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the LORD and thought upon his name.
17They will be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18Then you will return, and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.