King James Version

1 Behold, I am sending My messenger to prepare the way before Me, and suddenly He will come to His temple, the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 And who is able to sustain his coming day, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will be to the Lord bringers of offerings in righteousness. 4 And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in years long ago. 5 And I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the hireling, the widow, and the orphan, and those who turn aside the stranger, and they will not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 6 For I am the LORD; I do not change, and you, O sons of Jacob, have not perished. 7 For many days you have turned away from the statutes of your ancestors and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts. And you said, "How shall we return?" 8 Will a man set God's decree, because you are determining me, and you have said, "In what have we set aside your tithe and offering?" 9 In the darkness you are enlightened, and you are appointing the nation entirely. 10 Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 And I will rebuke for you the devourer, and it will not destroy for you the fruit of the ground, and the vine will not miscarry for you in the field, says the LORD of hosts. 12 And I will bless you all the nations because you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. 13 "Be strong against Me, your words, says the LORD, and you said, 'What have we spoken against you?'" 14 You have said, "It is pointless to serve God, and what is the gain for us that we have kept His watch and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?" 15 And now we are confirming the wicked; also, we have built those who do evil; also, we have tested God, and they were delivered. 16 Then those who fear the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who think on His name. 17 "And it shall be, says the Lord of Hosts, on the day that I do my treasured possession, and I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him." 18 And you shall return and see between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.