Malachi 3:5

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Malachi 3:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

I will come

A swift

The sorcerers

Against those

General references

Bible References

I will come

You have made Jehovah weary with your words. You ask: 'How have we wearied him?' You say: 'Every one that does evil is good in Jehovah's sight.' You also say: 'He delights in them.' Then you ask: 'where is the God of justice?'

Our God will come and will not keep silent. A devouring fire is in front of him and a raging storm is around him.

He comes before Jehovah! Yes, he comes to judge the earth! He will judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth (fidelity) (faithfulness).

This is in Jehovah's presence because he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and its people with fairness.

This is what the Lord Jehovah says to them: I will judge disputes between the fat sheep and the skinny sheep.

We know who said: Vengeance is mine; I will repay; and who also said, Jehovah will judge his people. (Deuteronomy 32:35)

You also be patient. Make your hearts firm, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these, saying: Behold, Jehovah came with many thousands of his holy ones.

A swift

You ask: Why do you not accept our offerings? It is because Jehovah is a witness between you and the wife of your youth. The one to whom you have been unfaithful! She is your companion, the wife of your marriage vows.

Listen, my people, and I will speak. Hear O Israel, while I testify against you: I am God, your God!

Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you. O Israel, if you would listen to me!

They have done scandalous and disgraceful things in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke lies in my name. I did not command them to do this. 'I know what they have done. I am a witness, says Jehovah.'

Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all who are in it! Let the Sovereign Lord Jehovah (YHWH) be a witness against you, Jehovah from his Holy Temple.

[Verse not found in oldest manuscripts.]

The sorcerers

If any of you go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you one of my people.

Do not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. Jehovah will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known?

See how all the princes of Israel who live in you have used their power to shed blood (murder people).

He continued: This is the curse that is upon the land. Every one who steals will be acquitted. Every one who swears falsely will be innocent.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor people who worship idols, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

Now the works of the flesh (sinful human nature) are apparent. They are: fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct,

Let marriage be honorable among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled: for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

But the fearful and unbelieving, abominable and murderers, fornicators and those practicing spiritism, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur: which is the second death.

Outside are the dogs (impure men) and those who practice spiritism, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who tells lies.'

Against those

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner. Remember that you were foreigners in Egypt.

Do not oppress your neighbor and do not rob him. Do not fail to pay your workers at the end of each day.

Do not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.

Cursed is he who withholds justice due an alien, orphan, and widow. The people all say: Amen.

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.

Do not remove the old landmark (boundry). And do not enter the field of the fatherless.

Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice. Woe to him who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts.

General references

Do not commit adultery.

Do not deny justice to a poor person at his trial.

Do not have sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife and become unclean with her.

He will have the woman drink the bitter water that can bring the curse. This water will go into her and become bitter.

Do not bear false witness against another man.

Do not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.

Cursed is he who withholds justice due an alien, orphan, and widow. The people all say: Amen.

That would be a fire consuming down to destruction, and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

They kill widows and foreigners, and they murder orphans.

I will punish them for these things, declares Jehovah. I will punish these people!

Instead you do wrong and defraud, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!