5. “And I shall draw near to you for right-ruling. And I shall be a swift witness against the practisers of witchcraft, and against adulterers, and against them that swear to falsehood, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages and widows and the fatherless, and those who turn away a sojourner and do not fear Me,” said יהוה of hosts.
6. “For I am יהוה, I shall not change, and you, O sons of Ya‛aqoḇ, shall not come to an end.
7. “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My laws and did not guard them. Turn back to Me, and I shall turn back to you,” said יהוה of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what shall we turn back?’
8. “Would a man rob Elohim? Yet you are robbing Me! But you said, ‘In what have we robbed You?’ In the tithe and the offering!
9. “You have cursed Me with a curse, for you are robbing Me, this nation, all of it!
10. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and let there be food in My house. And please prove Me in this,” said יהוה of hosts, “whether I do not open for you the windows of the heavens, and shall pour out for you boundless blessing!
11. “And I shall rebuke the devourer for you, so that it does not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor does the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” said יהוה of hosts.
12. “And all nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a land of delight,” said יהוה of hosts.
13. “Your words have been harsh against Me,” said יהוה, “but you have said, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14. “You have said, ‘It is worthless to serve Elohim. And what did we gain when we guarded His Charge, and when we walked as mourners before יהוה of hosts?
15. ‘And now we are calling the proud blessed – not only are the doers of wrongness built up, but they also try Elohim and escape.’ ”
16. Then shall those who fear יהוה speak to one another, and יהוה listen and hear, and a book of remembrance be written before Him, of those who fear יהוה, and those who think upon His Name.
17. “And they shall be Mine,” said יהוה of hosts, “on the day that I prepare a treasured possession. And I shall spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18. “Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wrong, between one who serves Elohim and one who does not serve Him.