Come, Follow Me · Week 51 · December 14–20

Malachi

This Week's Reading

Malachi concludes the Old Testament by calling Israel back to wholehearted devotion to God. The prophet reminds them that God’s love is not based on human merit but on His sovereign choice, as seen in His preference for Jacob over Esau. He rebukes the people for treating God’s covenant lightly, especially in marriage, and warns that serving God requires sincerity and obedience. Yet, amidst warnings of judgment, Malachi offers hope: a messenger will prepare the way for the Lord, who will come like a refiner’s fire to purify His people and restore righteousness.

Key Passages

Malachi 1:2–5 God declares His love for Jacob and His rejection of Esau, showing that divine favor is rooted in His eternal purpose, not human effort.
Malachi 2:10–16 The Lord calls Israel to unity under one Father and warns against breaking the covenant of marriage, which He honors as sacred.
Malachi 3:1–4 A messenger will prepare the way for the Lord, who will come to His temple and purify His people so their offerings may be acceptable.
Malachi 3:13–15 The prophet rebukes those who mock God’s justice, reminding them that only the righteous will stand when He comes in judgment.
Malachi 4:1–6 A day of fiery judgment awaits the wicked, but for those who fear His name, the Sun of righteousness rises with healing power. Elijah is promised to turn hearts back to one another before the great and dreadful day.

Questions to Ponder

How does God’s declaration that He loved Jacob challenge your understanding of divine love?
In what ways might you be treating God’s covenant lightly in your own life or family?
What does it mean to “fear the Lord’s name,” and how can you cultivate that reverence daily?
How can you prepare your heart for the refining fire of the Lord’s coming presence?

A Thought to Take Home

God’s love is steadfast, His covenants are holy, and His justice is perfect. As we walk in faithfulness, He promises to refine us like silver and bring healing through His Son. Let this week’s reading inspire you to trust in His mercy and prepare your heart for the Savior who fulfills every promise.

Further study Malachi 1:2–5, Malachi 2:10–16, Malachi 3:1–4, Malachi 4:1–6

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This guide was prepared with AI from the scriptures and checked against the text; it can still make mistakes. For the Church's own guidance, read the official Come, Follow Me manual for this week. Nephite Atlas is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Key passages

Malachi 1:2–5

²I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, ³And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. ⁴Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. ⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

Malachi 2:10–16

¹⁰Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. ¹²The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts. ¹³And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. ¹⁴Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. ¹⁵And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. ¹⁶For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

Malachi 3:1–4

¹Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. ²But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: ³And he shall sit as 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. ⁴Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

Malachi 3:13–15

¹³Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? ¹⁴Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Malachi 4:1–6

¹For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. ²But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. ³And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. ⁴Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. ⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.