If you will not listen, and if you will not {take it to heart} to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of hosts, "then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have [already] cursed them because {you are not taking it to heart}.

Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.

"Then you will know that I have sent to you this command, that my covenant with Levi {continues}," says Yahweh of hosts.

But you, you have turned from the way; you have caused many to stumble by [your] instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of hosts.

"And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you [are] not keeping my way, but are {favoring your own instruction}."

{Do we not all have} one father? Has not one God created us? Why [then] are we unfaithful {to one another}, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!

The Lord will have the man who does this cut off root and branch out of the tents of Jacob, and him who makes an offering to the Lord of armies.

Now have ye brought it to this point again, that the altar of the LORD is covered with tears, weeping, and mourning: so that I will no more regard the meat offering, neither will I receive or accept anything at your hands.

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

And He did not make one only, And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what is the one alone! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously.

For I hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He who hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

You have wearied Yahweh with your words, but you ask, "With what have we wearied [him]?" [You have done so] {when you say}, "Everyone who does evil [is] good in the {sight} of Yahweh, and in them he delights," or "Where [is] the God of justice?"

See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.

And he hath sat, a refiner and purifier of silver, And he hath purified the sons of Levi, And hath refined them as gold and as silver, And they have been to Jehovah bringing nigh a present in righteousness.

And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.

"For I, Yahweh, have not changed, and you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.

From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept [them]! Return to me and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts, "but you say, 'How shall we return?'

Will a human [dare to] rob God? Yet you [are] robbing me! And you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In the tithes and the contributions!

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring in all the tithe unto the treasure-house, And there is food in My house; When ye have tried Me, now, with this, Said Jehovah of Hosts, Do not I open to you the windows of heaven? Yea, I have emptied on you a blessing till there is no space.

And I have pushed for you against the consumer, And He doth not destroy to you the fruit of the ground, Nor miscarry to you doth the vine in the field, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And declared you happy have all the nations, For ye are a delightful land, said Jehovah of Hosts.

"Your words have been harsh against me," says Yahweh. "But you say, 'How have we spoken together against you?'

You have said, '[It is] useless to serve God! What [is the] gain if we keep his requirements, and if we walk as mourners {before} Yahweh of hosts?

And now, we are declaring the proud happy, Yea, built up have been those doing wickedness, Yea they have tempted God, and escape.'

Then have those fearing Jehovah spoken one to another, And Jehovah doth attend and hear, And written is a book of memorial before Him Of those fearing Jehovah, And of those esteeming His name.

"They will be mine," says Yahweh of hosts, "on the day that I [am] acting, [my] treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

And ye have turned back and considered, Between the righteous and the wicked, Between the servant of God and him who is not His servant.

For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch,

And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness -- and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall.

And ye have trodden down the wicked, For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day that I am appointing, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

And he hath turned back the heart of fathers to sons, And the heart of sons to their fathers, Before I come and have utterly smitten the land!

And of Jesus Christ, the birth was thus: For his mother Mary having been betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together she was found to have conceived from the Holy Spirit,

But Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and unwilling to expose her publicly, purposed to have put her away secretly;

But when he was giving thought to these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, have no fear of taking Mary as your wife; because that which is in her body is of the Holy Spirit.

And she will have a son, and you must name Him Jesus, for it is He who is to save His people from their sins."

Behold, the virgin will have in her womb, and will bring forth a son. And they will call his name Immanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us.

and {did not have sexual relations with} her until she gave birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

saying, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him."

And he sent them to Bethlehem [and] said, "Go, inquire carefully concerning the child, and when you have found [him], report to me so that I also may come [and] worship him."

When they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the infant and his mother, flee into Egypt, and don't stir thence till I order you, for Herod will endeavour to have the child destroy'd. Joseph therefore arose,

And he was there until the death of Herod, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

saying, 'Having risen, take the child and his mother, and be going to the land of Israel, for they have died -- those seeking the life of the child.'

Demonstrate by your lives that you have [really] repented,

And do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham [as] father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

but John urgently forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee; and comest thou to me?

and behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight.

the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the ones who sit in the land and shadow of death, a light has dawned on them."

"Those persons who have a humble attitude [toward themselves] are blessed because they will inherit [the best of] the earth.

Happy are those whose heart's desire is for righteousness: for they will have their desire.

"Blessed are those who show mercy, for they will have mercy shown them.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted because of righteousness, because the kingdom of the heavens is theirs.

"Blessed are you when they have insulted and persecuted you, and have said every cruel thing about you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus have they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have become insipid, wherewith shall it be salted? It is no longer fit for anything but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot by men.

"Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy [them] but to fulfill [them].

I have not come to set them aside but to fill them up to the brim. For I solemnly say to you, heaven and earth would sooner pass away than the dotting of an 'i' or the crossing of a 't' from the law, until it all becomes in force.

whoever therefore shall break any commandment, tho' of the least importance, and shall teach men so to do, shall not have the least admittance into the kingdom of the Messias: but whoever shall do and teach them, he shall be great in the kingdom of the Messias.

"You have heard that it was said to the {people of old}, 'Do not commit murder,' and 'whoever commits murder will be subject to judgment.'

But I say to you: "Everyone who harbors malice against his brother, will have to answer to the court, and whoever speaks contemptuously to his brother, will have to answer to the supreme court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You cursed fool? will have to pay the penalty in the pit of torture.

Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman so as to have an evil desire for her at once has already committed adultery with her in his heart,

So if your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out of your way; for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

And if your right hand causes you to do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way, for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

"Again you have heard that it was said to the {people of old}, 'Do not swear falsely, but fulfill your oaths to the Lord.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

And the one who wants to go to court with you and take your tunic, {let him have} your outer garment also.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'Hate your enemy.'

But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors also do the same?

"And take care not to practice your righteousness before people to be seen by them; {otherwise} you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to stand [and] pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, in order that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!

but you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is with you in your retirement, and your father who observeth the actions of your retirement shall reward you.

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.

Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg anything of him.

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven.

But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.

"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!

But if your eye sees things wrongly, [then] your whole body [i.e., your entire life] will be full of darkness [i.e., will not be lived properly]. If therefore, the light you have is [really] darkness [i.e., if you are not seeing life properly], that darkness will be very great [i.e., you cannot possibly live properly].

No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.

So I tell you, stop worrying about your life, as to what you will have to eat or drink, or about your body, as to what you will have to wear. Is not life worth more than food and the body worth more than clothes?

now if God thus adorns the flower of the field, which thriving to day, is to morrow thrown into the oven, how much more shall he provide for you, if you have any degree of faith?

So never worry and say, 'What are we going to have to eat? What are we going to have to drink? What are we going to have to wear?'

for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.

But you must make his kingdom, and uprightness before him, your greatest care, and you will have all these other things besides.

So never worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries of its own. Each day has evil enough of its own."

"Pass no more judgments upon other people, so that you may not have judgment passed upon you.

For as you have been judging, so you will be judged, and with your measure will it be measured to you.

Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye?

Because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened.

if, therefore, ye being evil, have known good gifts to give to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things to those asking him?

All those things, then, which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.

Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through thy name, and through thy name cast out demons, and through thy name done many works of power?

and then will I make this declaration to them: I never knew you: depart from me ye that have practised iniquity.

And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

Jesus said to him, "Be sure you do not tell anyone [about your healing yet]; but [first] go and show yourself to the priest and then offer the [sacrificial] gift required by the law of Moses [See Lev. 13:49; 14:2ff], as evidence to them [that you have been healed]."