The LORD Almighty answers, "I will send my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant."

A voice cries out, "Prepare in the wilderness a road for the LORD! Clear the way in the desert for our God!

Until the time of John all the prophets and the Law of Moses spoke about the Kingdom;

and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted.

Then the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?"

But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also mistreat the Son of Man."

Some of the people standing there heard him and said, "He is calling for Elijah!"

But the others said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!"

And they asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?"

I tell you, however, that Elijah has already come and that people treated him just as they pleased, as the Scriptures say about him."

He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him."

Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.

I tell you," Jesus added, "John is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John."

Suddenly two men were there talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah,

"Who are you, then?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?" "No, I am not," John answered. "Are you the Prophet?" they asked. "No," he replied.

then asked John, "If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?"

The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them.

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

I will perform miracles in the sky above and wonders on the earth below. There will be blood, fire, and thick smoke;

the sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood, before the great and glorious Day of the Lord comes.

The terrible day of their anger is here, and who can stand up against it?"