Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

17 You have wearied(A) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(B)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(C) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(D)

“I will send my messenger,(E) who will prepare the way before me.(F) Then suddenly the Lord(G) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,(H) whom you desire,(I) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure(J) the day of his coming?(K) Who can stand(L) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire(M) or a launderer’s soap.(N) He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;(O) he will purify(P) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.(Q) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,(R) and the offerings(S) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.(T)

“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,(U) adulterers(V) and perjurers,(W) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,(X) who oppress the widows(Y) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners(Z) among you of justice, but do not fear(AA) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

“I the Lord do not change.(AB) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.(AC) Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away(AD) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return(AE) to me, and I will return to you,”(AF) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,(AG) ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a mere mortal rob(AH) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes(AI) and offerings. You are under a curse(AJ)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe(AK) into the storehouse,(AL) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates(AM) of heaven and pour out(AN) so much blessing(AO) that there will not be room enough to store it.(AP) 11 I will prevent pests from devouring(AQ) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,(AR)” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed,(AS) for yours will be a delightful land,”(AT) says the Lord Almighty.(AU)

Bible Gateway Recommends