a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. 4. Then shall the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in
the days of old, and as in former years. 5. And I will come near to
you to judgment; and I will be a swift Witness against the
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers,
and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the
widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from
his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of Hosts. 6. For I am
the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed. 7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away
from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I
will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye said, Wherein
shall we return? 8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.
9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this
whole nation. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that
there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith
the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it. 11. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and
he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your
vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of
Hosts. 12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be
a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.'--MALACHI iii. 1-12.

Deep obscurity surrounds the person of this last of the prophets. It is
questioned whether Malachi is a proper name at all. It is the Hebrew
word rendered in verse 1 of our passage 'My messenger,' and this has led
many authorities to contend that the prophecy is in fact anonymous, the
name being only a designation of office. Whether this is so or not, the
name, if it is a name, is all that we know about him. The tenor of his
prophecy shows that he lived after the restoration of the Temple and its
worship, and the sins which he castigates are substantially those with
which Ezra and Nehemiah had to fight. One ancient Jewish authority
as