1. "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts.
2. "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
3. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
4. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5. "Then 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 wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me," says the Lord of hosts.
6. "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
7. "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'
8. "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.