1. CONTEMPT FOR MY NAME

A son honors his father
And a slave his master
If I am a father
Where is the honor due me?
If I am a master
Where is the respect due me?

It is you priests who show
Contempt for my name

By offering defiled food
On my altar
By saying that the Lord’s table
Is contemptible


2. USELESS FIRES

When you offer
Blind animals for sacrifice
Is that not wrong?
When you sacrifice
Lame or diseased animals
Is that not wrong?

Now plead with God
To be gracious to us
With such offerings from your hands
Will he accept you?

Oh, that one of you would
Shut the temple doors
So that you would not light
Useless fires on my altar!
I am not pleased with you
And I will accept no offering
From your hands

My name will be great among the nations
From where the sun rises to where it sets
In every place incense and pure offerings
Will be brought to me
Because my name will be great
Among the nations

But you profane it by saying
‘The Lord’s table is defiled’
And, ‘Its food is contemptible’
And you say
‘What a burden!’
And you sniff at it contemptuously

Cursed is the cheat
For I am a great king
And my name is to be
Feared among the nations

And now, you priests
This warning is for you
If you do not listen
And if you do not resolve
To honor my name
I will send a curse on you

My name will be great among the nations
From where the sun rises to where it sets
In every place incense and pure offerings
Will be brought to me
Because my name will be great
Among the nations

For the lips of a priest
Ought to preserve knowledge
Because he is the messenger
Of the Lord Almighty

But you have turned from the way
And by your teaching have caused many to stumble
So I have caused you to be despised
Because you have not followed my ways

My name will be great among the nations
From where the sun rises to where it sets
In every place incense and pure offerings
Will be brought to me
Because my name will be great
Among the nations


3. A REFINER'S FIRE

Do we not all have one Father?
Did not one God create us?
Why do we profane the covenant
By being unfaithful to one another?

So be on your guard
And do not be unfaithful

You have wearied the Lord
With your words by saying
’All who do evil are good
In the eyes of the Lord’

And he is pleased with them’
Or ’Where is the God of justice?’

I will send my messenger
Who will prepare the way before me
Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

The messenger of the covenant
Whom you desire, will come
Suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

But who can endure
The day of his coming?
Who can stand
When he appears?

For he will be
Like a refiner’s fire
He will be
Like a launderer’s soap

He will sit as a refiner
And purifier of silver

Then the Lord will have men
Who will bring offerings
In righteousness
Acceptable to the Lord

As in days gone by
As in former years

I will send my messenger
Who will prepare the way before me
Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

The messenger of the covenant
Whom you desire, will come
Suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

But who can endure
The day of his coming?
Who can stand
When he appears?

I will send my messenger
Who will prepare the way before me
Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

The messenger of the covenant
Whom you desire, will come
Suddenly the Lord you are seeking
Will come to his temple

But who can endure
The day of his coming?
Who can stand
When he appears?


4. A SCROLL OF REMEMBRANCE

So I will come to put you on trial
I will be quick to testify

Against sorcerers
Adulterers and perjurers
Against those who defraud laborers
Of their wages
Who oppress the widows and the fatherless
And deprive the foreigners among you
Of justice, but do not fear me”

You have spoken
Arrogantly against me
Yet you ask
‘What have we said against you?’

You have said
‘It is futile to serve God
What do we gain by
Carrying out his requirements’

’Now we call the arrogant blessed
Certainly evildoers prosper,
And even when they put God to the test
They get away with it’

You have spoken
Arrogantly against me
Yet you ask
‘What have we said against you?’

Then those who feared the Lord
Talked with each other

And the Lord listened and heard
A scroll of remembrance
Was written in his presence

Concerning those who feared the Lord
And honored his name

And the Lord listened and heard
A scroll of remembrance
Was written in his presence

You have spoken
Arrogantly against me
Yet you ask
‘What have we said against you?’

You have said
‘It is futile to serve God
What do we gain by
Carrying out his requirements’


5. THE DAY IS COMING

On the day when I act
They will be my treasured possession
I will spare them
Just as a father has compassion
And spares his son who serves him

And you will
Again see

The distinction
Between the righteous
And the wicked
Between those who serve God
And those who do not

Surely the day
Is coming

It will burn
Like a furnace
All the arrogant
Will be stubble

And the day that is coming
Will set them on fire

You will see the distinction
Between the righteous
And the wicked
Between those who serve God
And those who do not

Surely the day
Is coming

It will burn
Like a furnace
All the arrogant
Will be stubble

And the day that is coming
Will set them on fire
Not a root or a branch
Will be left to them


6. THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

For you who revere my name
The sun of righteousness

Will rise with healing in its rays

And you will go out and
Frolic like well-fed calves
Then you will trample on the wicked
They will be ashes under your feet

On the day
When I act

Remember the law
The decrees and laws I gave you

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you

And you will go out and
Frolic like well-fed calves
Then you will trample on the wicked
They will be ashes under your feet

On the day
When I act

I will send the prophet Elijah to you
Before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes
He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children
And the hearts of the children to their parents

And you will go out and
Frolic like well-fed calves
Then you will trample on the wicked
They will be ashes under your feet

On the day
When I act


7. HEALING IN ITS RAYS

(Instrumental)


8. IN THE WILL

And there he stood so very still
His weary eyes gazed
Into the open sky
Voice of Jehovah breaking
Through the den of noise
For his humble servant to hear

Now take your son, your only son
The one I know you love so dear
Land of Moriah calls
A place for worshipping
A place to sacrifice your son to me

And if we're still, so very still
Our eyes gazing into the heavens
Voice of Jehovah will break through
The cares of this world
For all his children to hear

Love his son, his only son
The one who draws us near
Voice of Messiah calls
A time for worshipping
A time to sacrifice our hearts to Him

In the will