rsv Malachi:3:6-18 SEEK
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For I the LORD do not change ;
therefore you ,
O sons of Jacob ,
are not consumed .
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From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them .
Return to me ,
and I will return to you ,
says the LORD of hosts .
But you say , `
How shall we return ?'
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Will man rob God ?
Yet you are robbing me .
But you say , `
How are we robbing thee ?'
In your tithes and offerings .
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You are cursed with a curse ,
for you are robbing me ;
the whole nation of you .
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Bring the full tithes into the storehouse ,
that there may be food in my house ;
and 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 an overflowing blessing .
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I will rebuke the devourer 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 .
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Then all nations will call you blessed ,
for you will be a land of delight ,
says the LORD of hosts .
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Your words have been stout against me ,
says the LORD .
Yet you say , `
How have we spoken against thee ?'
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You have said , `
It is vain to serve God .
What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts ?
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Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed ;
evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape .'"
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Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another ;
the LORD heeded and heard them ,
and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and thought on his name .
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They shall be mine ,
says the LORD of hosts ,
my special possession on the day when I act ,
and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him .
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Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked ,
between one who serves God and one who does not serve him .