Study Desk

"But now, do indeed plead for God's favor, so that He will be gracious to us. With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?" says the LORD of armies.

"If only there were one among you who would shut the gates, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD of armies, "nor will I accept an offering from your hand.

"You also say, 'See, how tiresome it is!' And you view it as trivial," says the LORD of armies, "and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I accept it from your hand?" says the LORD.

"Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, so that My covenant may continue with Levi," says the LORD of armies.

"My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and was in awe of My name.

"So I also have made you despised and of low reputation in the view of all the people, since you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction."

Do we not all have one Father? Is it not one God who has created us? Why do we deal treacherously, each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And why the one? He was seeking a godly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit, and see that none of you deals treacherously against the wife of your youth.

"For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence," says the LORD of armies. "So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."

"And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this," says the LORD of armies, "if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

"Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you," says the LORD of armies.

'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and escape punishment.'"

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of armies, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branches.

"He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction."

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him."

So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.