The Skeptics Annotated Bible (727 page)

8
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

(3.8)
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”
God is robbed by those who don’t pay the full tithe.

9
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me
, even this whole nation.

(3.9)
“Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me.”
God curses the Israelites for “robbing” him by not paying the proper amount of money in tithes.

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.

(3.10)
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.”

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.

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

14 Ye 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?

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

18 Then shall ye return, and
discern between the righteous and the wicked
, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

(3.18) “Discern between the righteous and the wicked.”
35 Has there ever been a righteous person?

4
For, 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.

2 But 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.

3
And 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.

(4.1a) “The day cometh, that shall burn as an oven.”

(4.1b-3) “All the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up … And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” God will burn “the wicked” and the “righteous” will walk around on their ashes.

4
Remember ye the law of Moses
my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

(4.4)
“Remember ye the law of Moses.”
56 Must we obey the Old Testament laws?
117 Where did Moses receive the ten commandments?

5 Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD
:

(4.5)
“I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
(See note for 3.1)

6 And 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.

(4.6)
“Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
The Old Testament ends fittingly with these words: “Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
40 Will God curse the earth (again)?