¹“I am about to send my messenger, and he will prepare a way before me. Then the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ²And

Who can endure the day of his coming?

And who can stand at his appearing?

For he is like a refiner's fire,

And like fullers' lye.

³And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and he will refine them like gold and silver, and they will become offerers of the meal-offering to the Lord in righteousness. ⁴And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of an age past, and as in former years. ⁵And I will draw near to you for justice, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who defraud the hired labourer of his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who pervert the case of the foreigner, and who do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. ⁶For I am the Lord; I do not change, and you sons of Jacob have not perished. ⁷Since the days of your fathers, you have departed from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘In what way should we return?’ ⁸Can a man defraud God? For you are defrauding me. But you say, ‘In what way do we defraud you?’ In tithing and in the heave-offering. ⁹You curse with a curse, and you are defrauding me – all the nation. ¹⁰Bring all of the tithe to the treasury, so that there is provision in my house. And test me, please, in this matter, says the Lord of hosts, whether or not I will open for you the windows of heaven and empty out an abundant blessing on you. ¹¹And I will rebuke the consuming locust for you, and it will not ruin your fruit of the ground, and it will not cause the vine in the field to be unfruitful, says the Lord of hosts. ¹²And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. ¹³Your words have been obstinate against me, says the Lord, yet you say, ‘In what way have we spoken together against you?’ ¹⁴You say, ‘It is vain to serve God, and what profit is there that we keep his charge, and that we walk mournfully before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵And so now we call those who are presumptuous blessed, and also those who claim that those who act wickedly are firmly established, and even those who put God to the test and escape without consequence.’ ” ¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord spoke together, one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, of those who feared the Lord and those who respected his name. ¹⁷“And they will be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day when I make them a special possession. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. ¹⁸And you will return, and you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.

Reference(s) in Chapter 3: v.1 ↔ Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2, Luke 1:17, Luke 7:27 ● v.2 ↔ Revelation 6:17.