87 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
87 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 3
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1 “Behold, I send My messenger,
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And he will prepare the way before Me.
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And the Lord, whom you seek,
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Will suddenly come to His temple,
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Even the Messenger of the covenant,
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In whom you delight.
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Behold, He is coming,”
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Says the Lord of hosts.
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2 “But who can endure the day of His coming?
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And who can stand when He appears?
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For He is like a refiner’s fire
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And like launderers’ soap.
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3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
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He will purify the sons of Levi,
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And purge them as gold and silver,
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That they may offer to the Lord
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An offering in righteousness.
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4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
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Will be pleasant to the Lord,
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As in the days of old,
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As in former years.
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5 And I will come near you for judgment;
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I will be a swift witness
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Against sorcerers,
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Against adulterers,
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Against perjurers,
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Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,
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And against those who turn away an alien—
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Because they do not fear Me,”
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Says the Lord of hosts.
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6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
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Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
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7 Yet from the days of your fathers
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You have gone away from My ordinances
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And have not kept them.
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Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
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Says the Lord of hosts.
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“But you said,
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‘In what way shall we return?’
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8 “Will a man rob God?
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Yet you have robbed Me!
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But you say,
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‘In what way have we robbed You?’
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In tithes and offerings.
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9 You are cursed with a curse,
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For you have robbed Me,
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Even this whole nation.
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10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
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That there may be food in My house,
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And try Me now in this,”
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Says the Lord of hosts,
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“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
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And pour out for you such blessing
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That there will not be room enough to receive it.
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11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
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So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
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Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
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Says the Lord of hosts;
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12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
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For you will be a delightful land,”
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Says the Lord of hosts.
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13 “Your words have been harsh against Me,”
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Says the Lord,
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“Yet you say,
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‘What have we spoken against You?’
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14 You have said,
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‘It is useless to serve God;
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What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
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And that we have walked as mourners
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Before the Lord of hosts?
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15 So now we call the proud blessed,
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For those who do wickedness are raised up;
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They even tempt God and go free.’ ”
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16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
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And the Lord listened and heard them;
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So a book of remembrance was written before Him
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For those who fear the Lord
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And who meditate on His name.
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17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
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“On the day that I make them My jewels.
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And I will spare them
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As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
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18 Then you shall again discern
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Between the righteous and the wicked,
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Between one who serves God
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And one who does not serve Him. |