瑪拉基書 3
1 看，我要派遺我的使者，在我前面預備道路。你們所尋求的主宰，必要忽然進入衪的殿內；你們所想望盟約的使者，看，他來了──萬軍的上主說。
“I am about to send my messenger and he will clear a path before me: And the Lord, who you are seeking, will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant who you long for is already coming, says the Lord of hosts.
2 但是衪來臨之日，有誰能支得住﹖衪顯現時，有誰能站立得住﹖因為衪像煉金者用的爐火，又像漂布者用的滷汁
But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand firm when he appears? He is like a refiner’s fire, and like a launderer’s soap,
3 衪必要坐下，像個溶化和煉淨銀子的人，煉淨肋未的子孫，精煉他們像精煉金銀一像，使他們能懷著虔誠，向上主奉獻祭品：
and he will sit as a refiner and purifier. He will purify the descendants of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, until they are fit to bring offerings to the Lord.
4 那時，猶大和耶路撒冷所獻的祭品，必能悅樂上主，有如昔日和往年。
Then will the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 那時，我必前來你們接近，執行審判，迅速作證反對術士、犯奸和發虛誓的人，反對欺壓傭工，寡婦和孤兒的人，反對侵害外方人的權利，而不敬畏我的人──萬軍的上主說。
“I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against the sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, those who cheat workers, or widows, or orphans, deny justice to immigrants, and do not fear me,” says the Lord of hosts.
6 是的，我是上主，決不改變；但你們總是雅各伯的子孫!
“For I, the Lord, do not change; and you have not ceased to be descendants of Jacob.”
7 自從你們祖先的日子以來，你們就離棄了我的法令，而不遵守。現在你們轉向我吧! 我必轉向你們──萬軍的上主說。你們卻說：「我們應怎樣轉向你呢﹖」
“From the days of your ancestors, you have turned aside from my statutes, and you have not kept them. Turn to me and I will turn to you,” says the Lord. “You say, ‘How should we turn?’
8 人豈能欺騙天主﹖可是你們卻欺騙了我! 你們卻說：「我們在什麼事上欺騙了你﹖」即在什一和應獻的祭物上。
Can a human rob God? Yet you robbed me. You ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and gifts!
9 他們全體人民! 你們必要遭受嚴厲的詛咒，因為你們都欺騙了我。
You – your entire nation – are all cursed, because you rob me.
10 你們應把什一之物送入府庫，好使卜殿宇存有食糧。你們就在這事上試試我吧! ──萬軍的上主說──看我是否給你們開啟天閘，將祝福傾注在你們身上，直到你們心意滿足。
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there is food in my house. Test me in this way. See if I will not open to you the windows of the sky, and pour you out a blessing, until there is more than enough.
11 我必要為你們嚇走那舌食者，不容牠再損害你們的田產，也不讓你們田間的葡萄樹不結果實──萬軍的上主說。
I will rebuke for your sakes the devouring locust and he will not destroy your crops, nor will the vine fail to ripen its fruit in the field, says the Lord of hosts,
12 萬民都要稱你們有福，因為你們將成為一片樂土──萬軍的上主說。
and all nations will call you happy, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
13 上主說：「你們竟然敢用言語頂撞我。你們卻說：「我們在什麼話上頂撞了你﹖」
“You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “You ask, ‘What have we said about you?’
14 即在你們說：「事奉天主只是徒然! 遵守衪的誡命，在萬軍的上主面前，穿苦衣而行，有什麼好處﹖
You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God, and what do we gain from the Lord of hosts by keeping his commands, and walking mournfully in funeral garb before him?
15 現在我們該稱驕傲人有福；作惡的人，居然順利，試探天主的人居然免罰! 」
So now we call the proud happy, evildoers thrive: they dare God and escape unharmed.’”
16 這是敬畏上主的人彼此談論的。但上主都加以注意而聽見了，並且在衪面前的記錄簿上，為那些敬畏上主和投靠衪名號的人予以記錄了。
Such things those who revered the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice, and a record was written before him of those who revered the Lord and those who keep in mind his name.
17 在我行事的時日──萬軍的上主說──他們必是屬於我的產業，我要憐愛他們，有如人憐愛服事自己的兒子。
“They will be mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “my special possession on that day that I am preparing. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
18 你們將要重新看出義人和惡人，服事天主和不服事天主的人的區別。
Once again my people will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between the person who serves God and the person who does not.”
