17You have wearied the LORD with your talk. But you ask, “By what have we wearied [Him]?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or else, “Where is the God of justice?”
3 Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenanta that you desire, he is already coming. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye. 3He shall actb like a smelter and purger of silver; and he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they shall present offerings in righteousness. 4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of yore and in the years of old. 5But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said the LORD of Hosts.
6cFor I am the LORD—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be. 7From the very days of your fathers you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said the LORD of Hosts. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?” 8Ought man to defraudd God? Yet you are defrauding Me. And you ask, “How have we been defrauding You?” In tithe and contribution.e 9You are suffering under a curse, yet you go on defrauding Me—the whole nation of you. 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,f and let there be food in My House, and thus put Me to the test—said the LORD of Hosts. I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and pour down blessings on you; 11and I will banish the locustsg from you, so that they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall no longer miscarry—said the LORD of Hosts. 12And all the nations shall account you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands—said the LORD of Hosts.
13You have spoken hard words against Me—said the LORD. But you ask, “What have we been saying among ourselves against You?” 14You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His charge and walking in abject awe of the LORD of Hosts? 15And so, we account the arrogant happy; they have indeed done evil and endured; they have indeed dared God and escaped.” 16In this vein have those who revere the LORD been talking to one another. The LORD has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the LORD and esteem His name. 17And on the day that I am preparing, said the LORD of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him. 18And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served the LORD and him who has not served Him.
19For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the LORD of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. 20But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise h-to bring healing.-h You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves, 21and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said the LORD of Hosts.
22Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.
23Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD. 24He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.
Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before
the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Septuagint and Targum add “should reverence”; cf. next part of verse.
c Septuagint “it.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b See Hag. 2.10–13; cf. Lev. 10.8–11, Deut. 33.8, 10.
c-c Or: For the lips of a priest are observed;/Knowledge and ruling are sought from his mouth.
d By ruling falsely that an act was licit or an object ritually pure.
e-e Lit. “a second time”; Septuagint reads “which I detest”; cf. v. 16.
f-f Lit. “from your hand.”
a Apparently the messenger of the previous sentence is regarded as Israel’s tutelary angel.
b Lit. “sit.”
c Vv. 6–12 resume the thought of 1.2–5.
d Heb. qaba‘, a play on the name of Jacob (v. 6); cf. Gen. 27.36.
e I.e., the contributions to the priests from the new grain, oil, and wine; see Num. 18.12.
f I.e., the public storehouse; see Neh. 13.10–13.
g Lit. “devourer.”
h-h Lit. “with healing in the folds of its garments”; others “with healing in its wings.”
Ketuvim Part III (Scriptures)
Ketuvim (Scriptures)
Tehillim (Psalms)
Mishlei (Proverbs)
Iyov (Job)
Shir Hashirim (The Song of Songs)
Rut (Ruth)
Eichah (Lamentations)
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)
Esther
Daniel
Ezra
Nechemiah (Nehemiah)
Divrei Hayamim I (Chronicles I)
Divrei Hayamim II (Chronicles II)
Psalms
Book One
1 Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked,
or taken the path of sinners,
or joined the company of the insolent;
2rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight,
and he studiesa that teaching day and night.
3He is like a tree planted beside streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season,
whose foliage never fades,
and whatever b-it produces thrives.-b
4Not so the wicked;
rather, they are like chaff that wind blows away.
5Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment,
nor will sinners, in the assembly of the righteous.
6For the LORD cherishes the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
2 Why do nations assemble,
and peoples plota vain things;
2kings of the earth take their stand,
and regents intrigue together
against the LORD and against His anointed?
3“Let us break the cords of their yoke,
shake off their ropes from us!”
4He who is enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord mocks at them.
5Then He speaks to them in anger,
terrifying them in His rage,
6“But I have installed My king
on Zion, My holy mountain!”
7Let me tell of the decree:
the LORD said to me,
b-“You are My son,
I have fathered you this day.-b
8Ask it of Me,
and I will make the nations your domain;
your estate, the limits of the earth.
9You can smash them with an iron mace,
shatter them like potter’s ware.”
10So now, O kings, be prudent;
accept discipline, you rulers of the earth!
11Serve the LORD in awe;
c-tremble with fright,-c
12 d-pay homage in good faith,-d
lest He be angered, and your way be doomed
in the mere flash of His anger.
Happy are all who take refuge in Him.
3 A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom.
2O LORD, my foes are so many!
Many are those who attack me;
3many say of me,
“There is no deliverance for him through God.” Selah.a
4But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, He who holds my head high.
5I cry aloud to the LORD,
and He answers me from His holy mountain. Selah.
6I lie down and sleep and wake again,
for the LORD sustains me.
7I have no fear of the myriad forces
arrayed against me on every side.
8Rise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
For You slap all my enemies in the face;b
You break the teeth of the wicked.
9Deliverance is the LORD’s;
Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.
4 a-For the leader; with instrumental music.-a A psalm of David.
2Answer me when I call,
O God, my vindicator!
You freed me from distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
3You men, how long will my glory be mocked,
will you love illusions,
have recourse to frauds? Selah.
4Know that the LORD singles out the faithful for Himself;
the LORD hears when I call to Him.
5So tremble, and sin no more;
ponder it on your bed, and sigh.b
6Offer sacrifices in righteousness
and trust in the LORD.
7Many say, “O for good days!”
c-Bestow Your favor on us,-c O LORD.
8You put joy into my heart
when their grain and wine show increase.
9Safe and sound, I lie down and sleep,
d-for You alone,
