Today's Reading

¹An oracle: the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

²"I have loved you," says the Lord. Yet you say, "How have you loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" says the Lord, "Yet I loved Jacob;

³but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness."

⁴Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says the Lord of hosts, "They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them 'The Wicked Land,' even the people against whom the Lord shows wrath forever."

⁵Your eyes will see, and you will say, "The Lord is great-even beyond the border of Israel!"

⁶"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says the Lord of hosts to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'

⁷You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'The Lord's table contemptible.'

⁸When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn't that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn't that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?" says the Lord of hosts.

⁹"Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?" says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁰"Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you," says the Lord of hosts, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

¹¹For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations," says the Lord of hosts.

¹²"But you profane it, in that you say, 'The Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.'

¹³You say also, 'Behold, what a weariness it is!' and you have sniffed at it," says the Lord of hosts; "and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?" says the Lord.

¹⁴"But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King," says the Lord of hosts, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

¹"Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

²If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name," says the Lord of hosts, "then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

³Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

⁴You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says the Lord of hosts.

⁵"My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

⁷For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

⁸But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of hosts.

⁹"Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

¹⁰Do we not all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

¹¹Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

¹²The Lord will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to the Lord of hosts.

¹³This again you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

¹⁴Yet you say, 'Why?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

¹⁵Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

¹⁶For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence!" says the Lord of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.

¹⁷You 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?'

¹"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says the Lord of hosts.

²"But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap;

³and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness.

⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

⁵I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and do not fear me," says the Lord of hosts.

⁶"For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

⁷From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, 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?'

⁸Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings.

⁹You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

¹⁰Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.

¹¹I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says the Lord of hosts.

¹²"All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says the Lord of hosts.

¹³"Your words have been stout against me," says the Lord. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?'

¹⁴You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?

¹⁵Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.'

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord spoke one with another; and the Lord listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared the Lord, and who honored his name.

¹⁷They shall be mine," says the Lord of hosts, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

¹⁸Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.

¹A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it.

²Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

³I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, standing before the Lord of the earth.

⁵If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

⁶These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

⁷When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.

⁸Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

⁹From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be placed in a tomb.

¹⁰Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them.

¹²I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them.

¹³In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly.

¹⁵The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!"

¹⁶The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God's throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God,

¹⁷saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.

¹⁸The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

¹⁹God's temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.

¹The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

²to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

³to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man:

⁵that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:

⁶to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, listen to your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching:

⁹for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹If they say, "Come with us, Let's lie in wait for blood; let's lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

¹²let's swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.

¹³We'll find all valuable wealth. We'll fill our houses with spoil.

¹⁴You shall cast your lot among us. We'll all have one purse."

¹⁵My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path,

¹⁶for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

¹⁸but these lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

²⁰Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.

²¹She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:

²²"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.

²⁴Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;

²⁵but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;

²⁶I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;

²⁷when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.

²⁸Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;

²⁹because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

³⁰They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.

³¹Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

³²For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm."