New International Version | International Standard Version |
1"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. | 1"Watch out! I'm sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the LORD you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!" says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. |
2But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. | 2But who will survive the day when he comes? Or who can stand when he appears? Because he's like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap, |
3He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, | 3he will sit refining and purifying silver, purifying the descendants of Levi, refining them like gold and silver. Then they'll bring a righteous offering to the LORD. |
4and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. | 4Then the offering to the LORD by Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable as it was in the past, even as in former years. |
5"So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. | 5"I'll come near to you for judgment. I'll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don't fear me," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. |
6"I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. | 6"Because I the LORD don't change; therefore you children of Jacob aren't destroyed." |
7Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' | 7"Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and haven't kept them. Return to me and I'll return to you," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "But you ask, 'How will we return?' |
8"Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. | 8"Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "By the tithe and the offering. |
9You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me. | 9You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me! |
10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. | 10"Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and see if I won't throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. |
11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the LORD Almighty. | 11And I'll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. |
12"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. | 12"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. |
13"You have spoken arrogantly against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' | 13"You have spoken arrogant words against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, 'What did we say against you?' |
14"You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? | 14You said, 'It is futile to serve God,' and, 'What did we get out of it when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies?' |
15But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.'" | 15and, 'Now we call the arrogant one blessed. Those who do evil prosper and those who challenge God escape the consequences.'" |
16Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. | 16Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other. The LORD listened and took note, and a scroll of remembrance was written in his presence about those who fear the LORD and honor His name. |
17"On the day when I act," says the LORD Almighty, "they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. | 17"They'll be mine," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "in the day when I prepare my treasured possession. I'll spare them, just as a man spares his own son who serves him. |
18And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. | 18When you return, you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and between the one who serves God and the one who does not." |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
|