Malachi 3:1-4

Common English Bible

3 Look, I am sending my messenger who will clear the path before me;
        suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking will come to his temple.
        The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
²Who can endure the day of his coming?
        Who can withstand his appearance?
He is like the refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap.
³He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
        He will purify the Levites
            and refine them like gold and silver.
            They will belong to the Lord,
                presenting a righteous offering.
⁴The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
        as in ancient days and in former years.

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Luke 3:1-6

Common English Bible

John the Baptist’s message

3 In the fifteenth year of the rule of the emperor Tiberius—when Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea and Herod was ruler^[a] over Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler^[b] over Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was ruler^[c] over Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—God’s word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³John went throughout the region of the Jordan River, calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. ⁴This is just as it was written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

A voice crying out in the wilderness:
    “Prepare the way for the Lord;
        make his paths straight.
⁵Every valley will be filled,
    and every mountain and hill will be leveled.
The crooked will be made straight
    and the rough places made smooth.
⁶All humanity will see God’s salvation.”^[d]