As the final prophetic voice in the Old Testament, Malachi delivers a sharp and piercing message structured as a series of divine confrontations. God makes a statement, the cynical people of post-exilic Israel question it, and God delivers a powerful rebuttal. Through this disputational style, the book addresses the community's spiritual rot: the priests offer blemished sacrifices, the men deal treacherously in marriage, and the people rob God by withholding their tithes. They have grown weary and question the very justice and love of God. Malachi calls them back to their covenant obligations, concluding with a dramatic promise of the coming "great and awesome day of the Lord," which will be preceded by a messenger, Elijah, to turn the hearts of the people back to God.