I Will Send My Messenger (Matthew 11:7–19; Luke 7:24–35)
1 UST Yahweh, who commands the heavenly armies, says,“Pay attention! I am about to send my messenger. He will get things ready for me to come. Then I, the Lord you are looking for, will suddenly come to my temple. You want someone to bring you a message about my agreement with you, and I am going to send someone to do that. BSB BSB: “Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts. 2 UST But when he does come, no one will be able to keep living the way they were living before. When he appears, he will not tell anyone that he is innocent. But he will purify people{ from sin}, just as fire makes metal pure and soap makes clothes clean. BSB BSB: But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
3 UST He will help people stop sinning, just as a metalworker sits patiently near silver he has melted and keeps removing impurities from it. He will purify the descendants of Levi, just as a metalworker purifies gold and silver. Then they will bring proper offerings to Yahweh. BSB BSB: And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
4 UST After that, Yahweh will accept the offerings that the people of Judah and Jerusalem bring him, just as he did in ancient times.” BSB BSB: Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.
5 UST Yahweh, who commands the armies of heaven, says,“I will come to judge you. I will immediately declare people guilty and punish them if they have practiced witchcraft, committed adultery, made false promises, not paid fair wages to their workers, or taken advantage of widows and orphans and foreigners. People have done those things because they did not think I would punish them{, but I will}. BSB BSB: “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Robbing God 6 UST I will do this because I am Yahweh, and I{ swore to Abraham that I would bless his descendants}. When I make a promise, I keep it. That is why you descendants of Jacob are still living here in Judea, even though you are disobeying me. BSB BSB: “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
7 UST Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have disobeyed my laws. You have completely ignored them. Now come back to me, and I will come back to you,” says Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies.“You may wonder what I mean and ask,‘How can we come back to you?’ BSB BSB: Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
8 UST You might think that no one would even try to steal from God. But you are stealing from me! You may wonder what I mean and ask,‘How are we stealing from you?’ You are stealing from me by not giving me the tithes and offerings that you should. BSB BSB: Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 UST Because you are robbing me in this way, I have put a curse on all of you Israelites. BSB BSB: You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.
10 UST Bring all the tithes to the room in the temple where the priests keep contributions. Make sure there is food for the priests who serve in my temple. Try this and see what I do in response,” says Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies.“If you do this, then I will bless you so much that it will be as if I had opened windows in the sky and poured out blessings to you. You will not have enough room to store all of the crops that grow in your fields. BSB BSB: Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
11 UST I will prevent pests from eating your crops. Your grapevines will produce plenty of grapes,” says Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies. BSB BSB: I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.
12 UST “Then people from all nations will say that God has blessed you. They will say that because your land will be a delightful place,” says Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies. BSB BSB: “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts.
The Book of Remembrance 13 UST Yahweh says,“You have said terrible things about me. You may wonder what I mean and ask,‘What have we said about you?’ BSB BSB: “Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 UST You have said,‘It is useless to serve God. We have not gained anything by obeying his commands or by showing Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, that we are sorry for our sins. BSB BSB: You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
15 UST We have come to think that proud people become prosperous. Even when people do bad things, they succeed. They challenge God by doing wicked things, but God does not punish them.’” BSB BSB: So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
16 UST Then those who honored Yahweh all spoke with one another. Yahweh listened carefully to what they said. Those who honored Yahweh and respected him all wrote their names down in a book as he watched. BSB BSB: At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.
17 UST Then Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, said,“These people especially will belong to me. On the day when I judge people, I will spare them from punishment. I will treat them kindly, just as parents treat kindly the children who obey them. BSB BSB: “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18 UST Then once more you will clearly see that righteous people do prosper while wicked people do not. There is that difference between those who obey God and those who disobey him.” BSB BSB: So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”