Daily Bread

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

⁶ “I the Lord do not change.^(A) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.^{(B) 7} Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^(C) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^(D) to me, and I will return to you,”^(E) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^(F) ‘How are we to return?’

⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob^(G) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(H) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(I)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(J) into the storehouse,^(K) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(L) of heaven and pour out^(M) so much blessing^(N) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(O) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(P) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(Q)” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed,^(R) for yours will be a delightful land,”^(S) says the Lord Almighty.^(T)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

¹³ “You have spoken arrogantly^(U) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,^(V) ‘What have we said against you?’

¹⁴ “You have said, ‘It is futile^(W) to serve^(X) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements^(Y) and going about like mourners^(Z) before the Lord Almighty? ¹⁵ But now we call the arrogant^(AA) blessed. Certainly evildoers^(AB) prosper,^(AC) and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^(AD) A scroll^(AE) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^(AF) the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷ “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^(AG) treasured possession.^(AH) I will spare^(AI) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^(AJ) who serves him. ¹⁸ And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^(AK) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.^(AL)