Final Admonition

1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.3 “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing, says the LORD of hosts.

4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, {even the} statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.6 “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to {their} children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.  

The Purifier

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?’

You Have Robbed God

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, `How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation {of you!}10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast {its grapes,} says the LORD of hosts.12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts.

13 “Your words have been arrogant against Me, says the LORD. “Yet you say, `What have we spoken against You?’14 “You have said, `It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?15 `So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’

The Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard {it,} and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.17 “They will be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare {My} own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Priests to Be Disciplined

1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.2 “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name, says the LORD of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them {already,} because you are not taking {it} to heart.3 “Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.4 “Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi, says the LORD of hosts.5 “My covenant with him was {one of} life and peace, and I gave them to him {as an object of} reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.6 “True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.7 “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.8 “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.9 “So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.

Sin in the Family

10 “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?11 “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.12 “{As} for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob {everyone} who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.

13 “This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts {it with} favor from your hand.14 “Yet you say, `For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.15 “But not one has done {so} who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did {that} one {do} while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.16 “For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong, says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied {Him?} In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them, or, “Where is the God of justice?

God’s Love for Jacob

1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

2 “I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us? “{Was} not Esau Jacob’s brother? declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob;3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and {appointed} his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and {men} will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!

Sin of the Priests

6 “ `A son honors {his} father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, `How have we despised Your name?’7 “{You} are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, `How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, `The table of the LORD is to be despised.’8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly? says the LORD of hosts.9 “But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly? says the LORD of hosts.10 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle {fire on} My altar! I am not pleased with you, says the LORD of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you.11 “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name {will be} great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering {that is} pure; for My name {will be} great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.12 “But you are profaning it, in that you say, `The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’13 “You also say, `My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it, says the LORD of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and {what is} lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand? says the LORD.14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.

God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Foes

1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, {and} all the holy ones with Him!

 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.

 8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

God Will Be King over All

 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be {the only} one, and His name {the only} one.

 10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.

 12 Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15 So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.

 16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no {rain will fall} on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.  20 In that day there will {be inscribed} on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the LORD’S house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.

Jerusalem to Be Attacked

1 The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel.

 {T hus} declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, 2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3 “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. 4 “In that day, declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, `A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the LORD of hosts, their God.’

 6 “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem. 7 “The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. 8 “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David {will be} like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. 9 “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

 10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 “The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.

The Doomed Flock

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That a fire may feed on your cedars. 2
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the glorious {trees} have been destroyed;
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the impenetrable forest has come down. 3
There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,
For their glory is ruined;
There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

 4 Thus says the LORD my God, “Pasture the flock {doomed} to slaughter. 5 “Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and {each of} those who sell them says, `Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 “For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land, declares the LORD; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver {them} from their power.

 7 So I pastured the flock {doomed} to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock. 8 Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. 9 Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh. 10 I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the LORD. 12 I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give {me} my wages; but if not, never mind! So they weighed out thirty {shekels} of silver as my wages. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, {that} magnificent price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty {shekels} of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

 15 The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 “For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat {sheep} and tear off their hoofs. 17
“Woe to the worthless shepherd
Who leaves the flock!
A sword will be on his arm
And on his right eye!
His arm will be totally withered
And his right eye will be blind.

God Will Bless Judah and Ephraim

1 Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain–
The LORD who makes the storm clouds;
And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to {each} man. 2
For the teraphim speak iniquity,
And the diviners see lying visions
And tell false dreams;
They comfort in vain.
Therefore {the people} wander like sheep,
They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. 3
“My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
And I will punish the male goats;
For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah,
And will make them like His majestic horse in battle. 4
“From them will come the cornerstone,
From them the tent peg,
From them the bow of battle,
From them every ruler, {all} of them together. 5
“They will be as mighty men,
Treading down {the enemy} in the mire of the streets in battle;
And they will fight, for the LORD {will be} with them;
And the riders on horses will be put to shame. 6
“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph,
And I will bring them back,
Because I have had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
For I am the LORD their God and I will answer them. 7
“Ephraim will be like a mighty man,
And their heart will be glad as if {from} wine;
Indeed, their children will see {it} and be glad,
Their heart will rejoice in the LORD. 8
“I will whistle for them to gather them together,
For I have redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were before. 9
“When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in far countries,
And they with their children will live and come back. 10
“I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
And gather them from Assyria;
And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no {room} can be found for them. 11
“And they will pass through the sea {of} distress
And He will strike the waves in the sea,
So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;
And the pride of Assyria will be brought down
And the scepter of Egypt will depart. 12
“And I will strengthen them in the LORD,
And in His name they will walk, declares the LORD.

Prophecies against Neighboring Nations

1 The burden of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD),2
And Hamath also, which borders on it;
Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.3
For Tyre built herself a fortress
And piled up silver like dust,
And gold like the mire of the streets.4
Behold, the Lord will dispossess her
And cast her wealth into the sea;
And she will be consumed with fire.5
Ashkelon will see {it} and be afraid.
Gaza too will writhe in great pain;
Also Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded.
Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza,
And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.6
And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod,
And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.7
And I will remove their blood from their mouth
And their detestable things from between their teeth.
Then they also will be a remnant for our God,
And be like a clan in Judah,
And Ekron like a Jebusite.8
But I will camp around My house because of an army,
Because of him who passes by and returns;
And no oppressor will pass over them anymore,
For now I have seen with My eyes.9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout {in triumph,} O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.10
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
And the bow of war will be cut off.
And He will speak peace to the nations;
And His dominion will be from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Deliverance of Judah and Ephraim

11
As for you also, because of the blood of {My} covenant with you,
I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.12
Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope;
This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.13
For I will bend Judah as My bow,
I will fill the bow with Ephraim.
And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece;
And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.14
Then the LORD will appear over them,
And His arrow will go forth like lightning;
And the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet,
And will march in the storm winds of the south.15
The LORD of hosts will defend them.
And they will devour and trample on the sling stones;
And they will drink {and} be boisterous as with wine;
And they will be filled like a {sacrificial} basin,
{Drenched} like the corners of the altar.16
And the LORD their God will save them in that day
As the flock of His people;
For {they are as} the stones of a crown,
Sparkling in His land.17
For what comeliness and beauty {will be} theirs!
Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.