17YOU HAVE WEARIED YAHWEH WITH WORDS YOUR AND YOU SAY <IN> HOW? DID WE WEARY [HIM] BY SAYING YOU EVERY [ONE WHO] DOES <OF> EVIL [IS] GOOD IN [THE] EYES OF YAHWEH AND IN THEM HE HE DELIGHTS OR WHERE? [IS] [THE] GOD OF <THE> JUSTICE 17You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
1HERE I [AM] ABOUT TO SEND MESSENGER MY AND HE WILL MAKE CLEAR A WAY <TO> BEFORE ME AND SUDDENLY HE WILL COME TO TEMPLE HIS THE LORD WHOM YOU [ARE] SEEKING AND [THE] MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT WHOM YOU [ARE] DELIGHTING THERE! [HE IS] ABOUT TO COME HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS I Will Send My Messenger ( Matthew 11:7–19; Luke 7:24–35) 1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me.*NoteCloseCited in Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2, and Luke 7:27 Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple— the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight— see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
2AND WHO? [WILL] ENDURE <OBJ.> [THE] DAY OF COMING HE AND WHO? [IS] THE [ONE WHO WILL] STAND WHEN APPEARS HE FOR HE [IS] LIKE [THE] FIRE OF A REFINER AND LIKE [THE] SOAP OF WASHERS 2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
3AND HE WILL SIT [ONE WHO] REFINES AND [ONE WHO] PURIFIES SILVER AND HE WILL PURIFY <OBJ.> [THE] DESCENDANTS OF LEVI AND HE WILL REFINE <OBJ.> THEM LIKE <THE> GOLD AND LIKE <THE> SILVER AND THEY WILL BE TO YAHWEH BRINGING NEAR <OF> AN OFFERING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS 3And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
4AND IT WILL BE PLEASING TO YAHWEH [THE] OFFERING OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM LIKE [THE] DAYS OF ANTIQUITY AND LIKE YEARS FORMER 4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.
5AND I WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU FOR <THE> JUDGMENT AND I WILL BE A WITNESS HASTENING ON THE SORCERERS AND ON THE ADULTERERS AND ON <THE> [THOSE WHO] SWEAR AN OATH TO <THE> FALSEHOOD AND ON [THOSE WHO] DEFRAUD <OF> [THE] HIRE OF A HIRED LABORER A WIDOW AND A FATHERLESS ONE AND [THOSE WHO] THRUST ASIDE <OF> A SOJOURNER AND NOT THEY FEAR ME HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS 5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
6THAT I YAHWEH NOT I CHANGE AND YOU [THE] DESCENDANTS OF JACOB NOT YOU HAVE COME TO AN END Robbing God 6“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
7<TO> FROM [THE] DAYS OF ANCESTORS YOUR YOU HAVE TURNED ASIDE FROM STATUTES MY AND NOT YOU HAVE KEPT [THEM] RETURN TO ME SO LET ME RETURN TO YOU HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS AND YOU SAY <IN> HOW? WILL WE RETURN 7Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
8¿ WILL HE ROB SOMEONE GOD FOR YOU [ARE] ROBBING <OBJ.> ME AND YOU SAY <IN> HOW? HAVE WE ROBBED YOU THE TITHE AND THE CONTRIBUTION 8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9WITH <THE> CURSE YOU [ARE] CURSED AND <OBJ.> ME YOU [ARE] ROBBING THE NATION ALL OF IT 9You are cursed with a curse, yet you— the whole nation— are still robbing Me.
10BRING <OBJ.> ALL THE TITHE INTO [THE] HOUSE OF THE STORE SO IT MAY BE FOOD IN HOUSE MY AND TEST ME PLEASE BY THIS HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS IF NOT I WILL OPEN FOR YOU <OBJ.> [THE] WINDOWS OF THE HEAVENS AND I WILL POUR OUT FOR YOU BLESSING UNTIL NOT SUFFICIENCY 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.*NoteCloseLiterally blessing for which there will be no room
11AND I WILL REBUKE FOR YOU <IN> THE DEVOURER AND NOT IT WILL DESTROY OF YOU <OBJ.> [THE] FRUIT OF THE GROUND AND NOT IT WILL PROVE BARREN OF YOU THE VINE IN THE FIELD HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS 11I will rebuke the devourer*NoteCloseThe devourer is probably a name for a crop-destroying pest. for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit says the LORD of Hosts.
12AND THEY WILL CALL BLESSED <OBJ.> YOU ALL THE NATIONS FOR YOU WILL BE YOU A LAND OF DELIGHT HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS 12“Then all the nations will call you blessed for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts.
13THEY HAVE BEEN STRONG ON ME WORDS YOUR HE SAYS YAHWEH AND YOU SAY WHAT? HAVE WE SPOKEN TOGETHER ON YOU The Book of Remembrance 13“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14YOU HAVE SAID [IS] FUTILITY TO SERVE GOD AND WHAT? [IS THE] PROFIT THAT WE HAVE KEPT CHARGE HIS AND THAT WE HAVE WALKED MOURNFULLY FROM BEFORE YAHWEH OF HOSTS 14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
15AND THEREFORE WE [ARE] CALLING BLESSED ARROGANT [PEOPLE] BOTH THEY HAVE BEEN BUILT UP [THOSE WHO] DO <OF> WICKEDNESS AS WELL AS THEY HAVE TESTED GOD AND THEY HAVE ESCAPED 15So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
16THEN THEY SPOKE TOGETHER [THOSE] FEARING <OF> YAHWEH EACH WITH NEIGHBOR HIS AND HE PAID ATTENTION YAHWEH AND HE LISTENED AND IT WAS WRITTEN A DOCUMENT OF REMEMBRANCE <TO> BEFORE HIM OF [THOSE] FEARING <OF> YAHWEH AND OF [THOSE WHO] ESTEEMED <OF> NAME HIS 16At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.
17AND THEY WILL BELONG TO ME HE SAYS YAHWEH OF HOSTS TO THE DAY WHEN I [WILL BE] MAKING A POSSESSION AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON THEM JUST AS HE HAS COMPASSION EVERYONE ON SON HIS WHO SERVES <OBJ.> HIM 17“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18AND YOU WILL RETURN AND YOU WILL SEE BETWEEN A RIGHTEOUS [PERSON] AND A WICKED [PERSON] BETWEEN [ONE WHO] SERVES <OF> GOD AND [ONE] WHO NOT HE SERVES HIM 18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not