"And now, go ahead and implore God by saying, "Be gracious to us.' Will he receive you favorably and accept offerings like that from your hand?" asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

And you say, 'Look! [This is] a weariness,' and you sniff [with disdain] at it," says Yahweh of hosts. "And you bring [the] stolen, the lame, and the one that is sick--[this] you bring as the offering! Should I {accept it} from your hand?" says Yahweh.

Look! I [am] going to rebuke {your offspring}, and I will scatter offal on your faces, [the] offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.

So did not the one, and yet had he an excellent spirit. What did then the one? He sought the seed promised of God. Therefore look well to your spirit, and let no man despise the wife of his youth.

If thou hatest her, put her away, sayeth the LORD God of Israel and give her a clothing for the scorn, sayeth the LORD of Hosts. Look well then to your spirit, and despise her not.

"Look! I [am] going to send my messenger, and he will prepare [the] way {before me}. And the Lord whom you [are] seeking will come suddenly to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, [in] whom you [are] taking pleasure--look!--[he is] about to come," says Yahweh of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi [the priests], and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord [grain] offerings in righteousness.

And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh, like [in the] days of old and like [in] former years.

You said, "It is futile to serve God,' and, "What did we get out of it when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies?'

And in the day that I will make, sayeth the LORD of Hosts, they shall be mine own possession: and I will favour them, like as a man favoureth his own son, that doth him service.

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant (proud, self-righteous, haughty), and every evildoer shall be stubble; and the day that is coming shall set them on fire,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves.

You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the Lord who rules over all.

Look! I [am] going to send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh!