3
1 Hineni, I will send malachi,
and he shall prepare the Derech before me:
and HaAdon (the L-rd) [Moshiach],* whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to His Heikhal,
even the Malach HaBrit, in whom ye have chafetz (delight):
hinei, He is coming, saith Hashem Tzva'os.
2 But who may abide the Yom Bo'o (day of His coming)?
Who shall stand when He appeareth?
For He is like a refinerʼs eish,
and like fullersʼ soap:
3 And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of kesef;
and He shall purify the Bnei Levi,
and purge them as zahav and kesef,
that they may offer unto Hashem
an offering in tzedakah.
4 Then shall the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim
be pleasing unto Hashem,
as in the yamei olam (days of old),
and as in shanim kadmoniyyot (former years).
5 And I will come near to you for mishpat;
and I will be a swift ed (witness)
against the mekhashfim (sorcerers), and against the mena'afim (adulterers),
and against false swearers,
and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages,
the almanah (widow), and the fatherless,
and that turn aside the ger from his right,
and fear not Me,
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
6 For I am Hashem, I change not;
therefore ye Bnei Ya'akov are not consumed.
7 Even from the yamei avoteichem
ye are gone away from Mine chukkim,
and have not been shomer over them.
Return unto Me, and I will return unto you,
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
But ye said: Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob G-d?
Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say: Wherein have we robbed Thee?
In ma'aser (tithes) and terumah (offerings, contributions).†
9 Ye are cursed with a me'erah (curse);
for ye have robbed Me,
even this whole Goy (nation).
10 Bring ye kol hama'aser (all the tithes) into the Beis HaOtzar (House of the Treasury),
that there may be teref (food) in Mine Beis,‡
and prove Me now herewith,
saith Hashem Tzva'os,
if I will not open you the windows of Shomayim,
and pour you out a brocha,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the p'ri ha'adamah;
neither shall your gefen cast her fruit before the time in the sadeh,
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
12 And kol HaGoyim shall call you blessed;
for ye shall be an Eretz Chefetz,
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
13 Your devarim have been harsh against Me,
saith Hashem. Yet ye say:
What have we spoken so much against Thee?
14 Ye have said: Avod Elohim is vain;
and what profit is it that we have been shomer over His mishmeret,
and that we have walked as mourners
before Hashem Tzva'os?
15 And now we call the zedim (proud) happy;
yea, they that work rishah (wickedness) are set up;
yea, they that tempt Elohim even go free.
16 Then they that feared Hashem
spoke often one to another;
and Hashem paid heed, and heard it,
and a Sefer Zikaron (book of remembrance) was written before Him
for them that feared Hashem,
and that meditated upon Shmo (His Name).
17 And they shall be Mine,
saith Hashem Tzva'os,
in that Yom when I make up My segullah (special treasure, possession);
and I will spare them,
as a man spareth his own ben haoved oto (son that serveth him).
18 Then shall ye return,
and discern between the tzaddik and the rasha,
between oved Elohim (him that serveth G-d)
and him that serveth Him not.
19 For, hinei, HaYom bah (the day cometh),
that shall burn as an oven;
and kol zedim (all the proud), yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble;
and HaYom that cometh shall burn them up,
saith Hashem Tzva'os,
that it shall leave them
neither shoresh (root) nor anaf (branch).
20 But unto you that fear My name
shall the Shemesh Tzedakah (sun of righteousness) arise
with healing in his wings;
and ye shall go forth,
and grow up as calves of the stall.
21 And ye shall trample down the resha'im;
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
in HaYom that I shall do this,
saith Hashem Tzva'os.
22 Remember ye the Torat Moshe Avdi,
which I commanded unto him in Chorev for kol Yisroel,
with the chukkim (statutes) and mishpatim (judgments).
23 Hinei,
I will send you Eliyahu HaNavi
before the coming of
the great and dreadful Yom Hashem;
24 And he shall turn the lev-avot to the banim,
and the lev-banim to their avot,
lest I come and strike the earth with cherem.
* 3:1 Zech 4:14 † 3:8 Ex 20:15 ‡ 3:10 Hamikdash