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Malachi 3
New International Version

3 “I will send my messenger,(A) who will prepare the way before me.(B) Then suddenly the Lord(C) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,(D) whom you desire,(E) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure(F) the day of his coming?(G) Who can stand(H) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire(I) or a launderer’s soap.(J) 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;(K) he will purify(L) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.(M) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,(N) 4 and the offerings(O) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.(P)

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,(Q) adulterers(R) and perjurers,(S) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,(T) who oppress the widows(U) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners(V) among you of justice, but do not fear(W) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

### Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

6 “I the Lord do not change.(X) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.(Y) 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away(Z) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return(AA) to me, and I will return to you,”(AB) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,(AC) ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a mere mortal rob(AD) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes(AE) and offerings. 9 You are under a curse(AF)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe(AG) into the storehouse,(AH) 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(AI) of heaven and pour out(AJ) so much blessing(AK) that there will not be room enough to store it.(AL) 11 I will prevent pests from devouring(AM) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,(AN)” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed,(AO) for yours will be a delightful land,”(AP) says the Lord Almighty.(AQ)

### Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

13 “You have spoken arrogantly(AR) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,(AS) ‘What have we said against you?’

14 “You have said, ‘It is futile(AT) to serve(AU) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements(AV) and going about like mourners(AW) before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant(AX) blessed. Certainly evildoers(AY) prosper,(AZ) and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

### The Faithful Remnant

16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.(BA) A scroll(BB) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared(BC) the Lord and honored his name.

17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my(BD) treasured possession.(BE) I will spare(BF) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son(BG) who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous(BH) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.(BI)

#### Cross references

1. Malachi 3:1 : S Nu 27:21; S 2Ch 36:15
2. Malachi 3:1 : S Isa 40:3; S Mt 3:3; 11:10*; Mk 1:2*; Lk 7:27*
3. Malachi 3:1 : Mic 5:2
4. Malachi 3:1 : S Isa 42:6
5. Malachi 3:1 : S 1Sa 9:20
6. Malachi 3:2 : S Eze 22:14; Rev 6:17
7. Malachi 3:2 : S Eze 7:7; S Da 7:13; S Joel 2:31; S Mt 16:27; Jas 5:8; 2Pe 3:4; S Rev 1:7
8. Malachi 3:2 : S 1Sa 6:20
9. Malachi 3:2 : S Isa 1:31; S 30:30; S Zec 13:9; Mt 3:10-12
10. Malachi 3:2 : S Job 9:30
11. Malachi 3:3 : S Da 12:10; S 1Co 3:13
12. Malachi 3:3 : S 1Ch 23:28; S Isa 1:25
13. Malachi 3:3 : S Job 28:1; S Ps 12:6; 1Pe 1:7; Rev 3:18
14. Malachi 3:3 : S Ps 132:9
15. Malachi 3:4 : 2Ch 7:12; Ps 51:19; Mal 1:11
16. Malachi 3:4 : S 2Ch 7:3; S Eze 20:40
17. Malachi 3:5 : S Ex 7:11; S Isa 47:9
18. Malachi 3:5 : Ex 20:14; Jas 2:11; 2Pe 2:12-14
19. Malachi 3:5 : Lev 19:11-12; S Jer 7:9
20. Malachi 3:5 : S Lev 19:13; Jas 5:4
21. Malachi 3:5 : S Ex 22:22
22. Malachi 3:5 : S Ex 22:21; S Dt 24:19; S Eze 22:7
23. Malachi 3:5 : S Dt 31:12; S Isa 1:2
24. Malachi 3:6 : S Nu 23:19; S Heb 7:21; Jas 1:17
25. Malachi 3:6 : S Job 34:15; S Hos 11:9
26. Malachi 3:7 : S Ex 32:8; S Jer 7:26; Ac 7:51
27. Malachi 3:7 : S Isa 44:22; S Eze 18:32
28. Malachi 3:7 : S Zec 1:3; Jas 4:8
29. Malachi 3:7 : S Mal 1:2
30. Malachi 3:8 : S Zec 5:3
31. Malachi 3:8 : S Lev 27:30; Nu 18:21; S Ne 13:10-12; Lk 18:12
32. Malachi 3:9 : S Dt 11:26; 28:15-68; S Zec 5:3
33. Malachi 3:10 : S Ex 22:29
34. Malachi 3:10 : S Ne 13:12
35. Malachi 3:10 : S 2Ki 7:2
36. Malachi 3:10 : Isa 44:3
37. Malachi 3:10 : S Lev 25:21; S Joel 2:14; 2Co 9:8-11
38. Malachi 3:10 : S Joel 2:24
39. Malachi 3:11 : S Ex 10:15; S Dt 28:39
40. Malachi 3:11 : S Ex 23:26
41. Malachi 3:12 : S Dt 28:3-12; Isa 61:9
42. Malachi 3:12 : S Isa 62:4; S Eze 20:6
43. Malachi 3:12 : S 2Ch 31:10
44. Malachi 3:13 : Mal 2:17
45. Malachi 3:13 : S Mal 1:2
46. Malachi 3:14 : Ps 73:13; S Isa 57:10
47. Malachi 3:14 : Ps 100:2; Jn 12:26; Ro 12:11
48. Malachi 3:14 : S Jos 22:5; S Isa 1:14
49. Malachi 3:14 : Isa 58:3
50. Malachi 3:15 : S Ps 119:21
51. Malachi 3:15 : Ps 14:1; 36:1-2; Jer 7:10
52. Malachi 3:15 : S Job 21:7
53. Malachi 3:16 : S Ps 34:15
54. Malachi 3:16 : S Ex 32:32; S Ps 56:8; S 87:6; S Lk 10:20
55. Malachi 3:16 : S Dt 28:58; S 31:12; Ps 33:18; S Pr 1:7; Rev 11:18
56. Malachi 3:17 : Isa 43:21
57. Malachi 3:17 : S Ex 8:22; S Dt 7:6; S Ro 8:14; S Tit 2:14
58. Malachi 3:17 : Ne 13:22; Ps 103:13; Isa 26:20; Lk 15:1-32
59. Malachi 3:17 : Ro 8:32
60. Malachi 3:18 : S Ge 18:25
61. Malachi 3:18 : Dt 32:4; Mt 25:32-33, 41

New International Version (NIV)

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