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1 ✡ Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom ye take pleasure in: behold, he is coming, saith the Lord Almighty. 2 And who will *abide the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of †fullers. 3 He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and ‡refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
4 And the sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, according to the former days, and according to the former years. 5 And I will draw near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the witches, and against the adulteresses, and against them that swear falsely by my name, and against them that keep back the hireling's wages, and them that oppress the widow, and §afflict orphans, and that wrest the judgment of the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord Almighty. 6 For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed: 7 but ye, the sons of Jacob, have not refrained from the iniquities of your fathers: ye have perverted my statutes, and have not kept them.
Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord Almighty. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 8 Will a man insult God? for ye insult me. But ye say, Wherein have we insulted thee? In that the tithes and first-fruits are with you still. 9 And ye do surely look off from me, and ye insult me.
10 The year is completed, and ye have brought all the produce into the storehouses; but there shall be the plunder thereof in its house: return now on this behalf, saith the Lord Almighty, see if I will not open to you the **torrents of heaven, and pour out my blessing upon you, until ye are satisfied. 11 And I will ††appoint food for you, and I will not destroy the fruit of your land; and your vine in the field shall not fail, saith the Lord Almighty. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a desirable land, saith the Lord Almighty.
13 Ye have spoken grievous words against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye said, Wherein have we spoken against thee? 14 Ye said, He that serves God ‡‡labours in vain: and what have we gained in that we have kept his ordinances, and in that we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty? 15 And now we pronounce strangers blessed; and all they who act unlawfully are built up; and they have resisted God, and yet have been delivered.
16 Thus spoke they that feared the Lord, every one to his neighbour: and the Lord gave heed, and hearkened, and he wrote a book of remembrance before him for them that feared the Lord and reverenced his name. 17 And they shall be §§mine, saith the Lord Almighty, in the day which I appoint for a peculiar possession; and I will make choice of them, as a man makes choice of his son that serves him. 18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, and between him that serves God, and him that serves him not.
19 For, behold, a day comes burning as an oven, and it shall consume them; and all the aliens, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that is coming shall set them on fire, saith the Lord Almighty, and there shall not be left of them root or branch.
20 But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, and healing shall be in his wings: and ye shall go forth, and bound as young calves let loose from bonds. 21 And ye shall trample the wicked; for they shall be ashes underneath your feet in the day which I appoint, saith the Lord Almighty. 22 And, behold, I will send to you Elias the Thesbite, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes; 23 ✡ who shall turn again the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbour, lest I come and smite the earth grievously.
24 Remember the law of my servant Moses, accordingly as I charged him with it in Choreb for all Israel, even the commandments and ordinances.
✡ 3:1 Mat. 11. 10. * 3:2 Or, wait for. † 3:2 Gr. them that wash. ‡ 3:3 Gr. pour. § 3:5 Gr. beat with the fist. ** 3:10 Or, windows, see Gen 7. 11, there rendered 'flood-gates.' †† 3:11 Or, give a charge for you to be fed. Alex. ‡‡ 3:14 Gr. is vain. §§ 3:17 Gr. for me. ✡ 3:23 Luke 1. 17.