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This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.

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It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.

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Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.

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So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague.

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It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents.

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It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain.

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If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.

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This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.

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In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH;” and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.

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Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.

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An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi.

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“I have loved you,” says Yahweh. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob;

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but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.”

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Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;” thus says Yahweh of Armies, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever.”

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Your eyes will see, and you will say, “Yahweh is great–even beyond the border of Israel!”

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“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’

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You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table contemptible.’

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When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

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For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’

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You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it,” says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says Yahweh.

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“But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

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“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

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If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

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Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

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You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

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The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

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For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.

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But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

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Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

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Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

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Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies.

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This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

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Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

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Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

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For I hate divorce,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.

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You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’

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“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;

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and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

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Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

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I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

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From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

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Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.

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You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

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Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.

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I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’

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You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?

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Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

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Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.

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They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

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Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

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“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.

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You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.

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“Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.

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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

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He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

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The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

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Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.

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Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.

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Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.

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Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.

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Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

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Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.

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Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.

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Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.

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Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.

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Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon.

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After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.

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Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.

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Azor became the father of Sadoc. Sadoc became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.

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Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.

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Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

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So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

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Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

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Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

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But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

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She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

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Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,

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“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

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Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;

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and didn’t know her sexually until she had brought forth her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

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Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

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“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”

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When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

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Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.

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They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,

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You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”

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Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

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He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

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They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

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When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.