MALACHI Chapter 3 (GNB)
SERAPHIM
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3:1
The LORD Almighty answers, "I will send my messenger to prepare the way
for me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The
messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant."
3:2
But who will be able to endure the day when he comes? Who will be able to
survive when he appears? He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines
metal.
3:3
He will come to judge like one who refines and purifies silver. As a
metalworker refines silver and gold, so the LORD's messenger will purify the
priests, so that they will bring to the LORD the right kind of offerings.
3:4
Then the offerings which the people of Judah and Jerusalem bring to the LORD
will be pleasing to him, as they used to be in the past.
3:5
The LORD Almighty says, "I will appear among you to judge, and I will
testify at once against those who practice magic, against adulterers, against
those who give false testimony, those who cheat employees out of their wages,
and those who take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners---against all
who do not respect me.
3:6
"I am the LORD, and I do not change. And so you, the descendants of Jacob,
are not yet completely lost.
3:7
You, like your ancestors before you, have turned away from my laws and have not
kept them. Turn back to me, and I will turn to you. But you ask, 'What must we
do to turn back to you?'
3:8
I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are
cheating me. 'How?' you ask. In the matter of tithes and
offerings.
3:9
A curse is on all of you because the whole nation is cheating me.
3:10
Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple, so that there will be
plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the
windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.
3:11
I will not let insects destroy your crops, and your grapevines will be loaded
with grapes.
3:12
Then the people of all nations will call you happy, because your land will be a
good place to live.
3:13
"You have said terrible things about me," says the LORD. "But
you ask, 'What have we said about you?'
3:14
You have said, 'It's useless to serve God. What's the use of doing what he says
or of trying to show the LORD Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done?
3:15
As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil people not only
prosper, but they test God's patience with their evil deeds and get away with
it.' "
3:16
Then the people who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened
and heard what they said. In his presence, there was written down in a book a
record of those who feared the LORD and respected him.
3:17
"They will be my people," says the LORD Almighty. "On the day
when I act, they will be my very own. I will be merciful to them as parents are
merciful to the children who serve them.
3:18
Once again my people will see the difference between what happens to the
righteous and to the wicked, to the person who serves me and the one who does
not."
CHAPTER
ENDS
4:1
The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people
will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing
left of them.
4:2
But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and
bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let
out of a stall.
4:3
On the day when I act, you will overcome the wicked, and they will be like dust
under your feet.
4:4
"Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the laws and commands which I
gave him at Mount Sinai for all the people of Israel to obey.
4:5
"But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you
the prophet Elijah.
4:6
He will bring fathers and children together again; otherwise I would have to
come and destroy your country."
CHAPTER
ENDS
MALACHI
ENDS
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