Malachi

Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament, concluding the period of prophetic history almost a century after the return from exile. The book is structured as a series of disputations or arguments between God and the discouraged, cynical community. Malachi condemns the people and the priests for their spiritual negligence: offering God defective sacrifices, failing to pay tithes, practicing social injustice, and marrying foreign wives. He warns of a coming judgment that will purify the priesthood and the people. The book concludes with the promise that before the "great and dreadful day of the Lord," God will send the prophet Elijah (later identified as John the Baptist in the New Testament) to prepare the hearts of the people for the arrival of the Messiah.