Malachi 2:17-3:6

New International Version

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

¹⁷ You have wearied^(A) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.^(B)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased^(C) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?^(D)”

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

² But who can endure^(J) the day of his coming?^(K) Who can stand^(L) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^(M) or a launderer’s soap.^{(N) 3} He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^(O) he will purify^(P) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^(Q) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{(R) 4} and the offerings^(S) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^(T)

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

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(AB) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^(AC)