3 “I will send my messenger,^(A) who will prepare the way before me.^(B) Then suddenly the Lord^(C) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,^(D) whom you desire,^(E) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure^(F) the day of his coming?^(G) Who can stand^(H) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire^(I) or a launderer’s soap.^{(J) 3} He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;^(K) he will purify^(L) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.^(M) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,^{(N) 4} and the offerings^(O) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.^(P)

⁵ “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,^(Q) adulterers^(R) and perjurers,^(S) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,^(T) who oppress the widows^(U) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners^(V) among you of justice, but do not fear^(W) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(X) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^(Y)

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet^(A) from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus at the Temple^(B)

¹² Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying^(C) and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers^(D) and the benches of those selling doves.^{(E) 13} “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^[a](F) but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’^[b]”^(G)