Study Desk

It was then that the Lord All-Powerful told me to say to everyone in the country, including the priests: For seventy years you have gone without eating during the fifth and seventh months of the year. But did you really do it for me?

And when you eat and drink, isn't it for your own enjoyment?

This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn't impossible for me, the Lord All-Powerful.

Before that time, neither people nor animals were rewarded for their work, and no one was safe anywhere, because I had turned them against each other.

I, the Lord , will take away war chariots and horses from Israel and Jerusalem. Bows that were made for battle will be broken. I will bring peace to nations, and your king will rule from sea to sea. His kingdom will reach from the Euphrates River across the earth.

I, the Lord All-Powerful, am fiercely angry with you leaders, and I will punish you. I care for my people, the nation of Judah, and I will change this flock of sheep into charging war horses.

I will give a signal for them to come together because I have rescued them. And there will be as many as ever before.

The Lord my God said to me: Tend those sheep doomed for slaughter!

So I became a shepherd of those sheep doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep dealers. And I gave names to the two sticks I used for tending the sheep: One of them was named "Mercy" and the other "Unity."

Once more I am going to let a worthless nobody rule the land—one who won't care for the strays or search for the young or heal the sick or feed the healthy. He will just dine on the fattest sheep, leaving nothing but a few bones."

I, the Lord , will make the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem feel deep sorrow and pray when they see the one they pierced with a spear. They will mourn and weep for him, as parents weep over the death of their only child or their first-born.

On that day the people of Jerusalem will mourn as much as everyone did for Hadad Rimmon on the flatlands near Megiddo.

If any such prophets ever appear again, their own parents must warn them that they will die for telling lies in my name—the name of the Lord . If those prophets don't stop speaking, their parents must then kill them with a sword.

This horrible disaster will strike the Egyptians and everyone else who refuses to go there for the celebration.

At that time the words "Dedicated to the Lord " will be engraved on the bells worn by horses. In fact, every ordinary cooking pot in Jerusalem will be just as sacred to the Lord All-Powerful as the bowls used at the altar. Any one of them will be acceptable for boiling the meat of sacrificed animals, and there will no longer be a need to sell special pots and bowls.

I am Malachi. And this is the message that the Lord gave me for Israel.

You get so disgusted that you even make vulgar signs at me. And for an offering, you bring stolen animals or those that are crippled or sick. Should I accept these?

Instead of offering the acceptable animals you have promised, you bring me those that are unhealthy. I will punish you for this, because I am the great King, the Lord All-Powerful, and I am worshiped by nations everywhere.

You priests should be eager to spread knowledge, and everyone should come to you for instruction, because you speak for me, the Lord All-Powerful.

I, the Lord All-Powerful, will send my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then suddenly the Lord you are looking for will appear in his temple. The messenger you desire is coming with my promise, and he is on his way.