Robbing God
6 “For I the Lord vdo not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. wReturn to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. xBut you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 yYou are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. zAnd thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer1 for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of adelight, says the Lord of hosts.
13 b“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a cbook of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my dtreasured possession, and I will spare them eas a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
2The Great Day of the Lord
1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them fneither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall grise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules3 that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “Behold, hI will send you Elijah the prophet before the igreat and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 jAnd he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and kstrike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”4
Jesus Begins His Ministry
12 mNow when he heard that John had been narrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in oCapernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be pfulfilled:
15 q“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has rdawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, s“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is tat hand.”1
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
18 uWhile walking by the vSea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, w“Follow me, and I will make you xfishers of men.”2 20 Immediately they yleft their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds
23 zAnd he went throughout all Galilee, ateaching in their synagogues and bproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his cfame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having dseizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
