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The Purifier |
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Malachi 3:1
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:2
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:3
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:4
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"Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will
be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. |
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Malachi 3:5
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:6
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"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you,
O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. |
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Malachi 3:7
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"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?' |
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You Have Robbed God |
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Malachi 3:8
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"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!
But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. |
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Malachi 3:9
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"You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing
Me, the whole nation of you! |
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Malachi 3:10
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:11
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"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. |
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Malachi 3:12
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"All the nations will call you blessed, for
you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts. |
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Malachi 3:13
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"Your words have been arrogant against Me,"
says the LORD. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' |
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Malachi 3:14
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"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? |
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Malachi 3:15
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'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only
are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'" |
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The Book of Remembrance |
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Malachi 3:16
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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. |
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Malachi 3:17
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"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." |
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Malachi 3:18
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So you will again distinguish between the righteous
and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. |
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