Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 437
2:10–3:4
M alachi
425
Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the
same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of
our ancestors?
Judah has been unfaithful, and a detestable thing has been done in Is
rael and in Jerusalem. The men of Judah have defiled the Lord’s beloved
sanctuary by marrying women who worship idols. May the Lord cut off
from the nation of Israel every last man who has done this and yet brings
an offering to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears,
weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and
doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord
accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the
vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been
unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of
your marriage vows.
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you
are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard
your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!”
says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm
her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart;
do not be unfaithful to your wife.”
You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the
Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking,
“Where is the God of justice?”
“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before
me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The
messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely com
ing,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to
stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that
refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a
refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refin
ing them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable
sacrifices to the Lord. Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings
brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.
