covenant. 15 And did not he make one? m Yet had he the residue of the 17 Ye have wearied p the LORD with your words: yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? CHAPTER III. 1 Of the messenger, majesty, and grace of Christ. 7 Of the rebellion, sacrilege, and infidelity of the people. BEHOLD, la will send my mer Blessing promised. B. C. 397. hosts. But k ye said, Wherein shall we return? m Mat. 19.4.5.8 T Will a man rob God? Yet ve 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 12 to put away. (CHAP. 3.) b Lu.2.27. c Mat.25.10. d 1Co.3.13. senger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, e 1Pe.2.5. whom ye seek, shall suddenly 1 or, ancient. come b to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who c shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's d fire, and like fullers' soap: f He, 13.4. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and 3 pour you out a blessing, that m there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not 4 destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. 13 Your words n have been stout against me, saith the LORD; yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked 6 mournfully before the LORD of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickPs.78.38,57. edness are 7 set up; yea, they that tempt o God are even delivered. La.3.22. i Zec. 1.3. k Mat.23.27. 4 corrupt. n Ps.73.11,12. 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they 1 may offer e unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in 1 former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, f and against o Ps.95.9. false swearers, and against those p Ep.5.19. that 2 oppress the hireling g in his wages, the widow, and the father- 9 Re.20.12. less, and that turn aside the stran-r Tit.2.14. 1 Pe.2.9. ger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. 8 or, special 6 For I am the LORD, I change not; treasure. therefore h ye sons of Jacob are not s Is.62.3. consumed. t Ps.58.11. built. 7 Even from the days of your (CHAP. 4.) fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept a 2Pe.3.10. them. Return i unto me, and I will b Mat.3.12. return unto you, saith the LORD of 16 Then they that feared the LORD spake p often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book g of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be mine,r saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my 8 jewels; s and I wil spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18 Then shall ye return, and t discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. CHAPTER IV. 1 God's judgment on the wicked, 2 and his blessing on the good. 5 Of Elijah's coming and office. NOR, behold, the day a cometh, that shall burnas ay oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that the day that cometh shall burnb do wickedly, shall be stubble: and them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. |