Berean Study Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts. | 1"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. |
2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. | 2"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. |
3And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. | 3"He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. |
4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by. | 4"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. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts. | 5"Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts. |
6“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. | 6"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. |
7Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’ | 7"From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?' |
8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings. | 8"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. |
9You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me. | 9"You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! |
10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure. | 10"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. |
11I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts. | 11"Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. |
12“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts. | 12"All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts. |
13“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ | 13"Your words have been arrogant against Me," says the LORD. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' |
14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts? | 14"You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? |
15So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’ ” | 15'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'" |
16At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name. | 16Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. |
17“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. | 17"They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." |
18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” | 18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. |
The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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