< Malachias 2 >

1 And now, O priests, this commandment is to you.
司祭們! 這是向你們提出的警告:
2 If ye will not hearken, and if ye will not lay [it] to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord Almighty, then I will send forth the curse upon you, and I will bring a curse upon your blessing: yea, I will curse it, and I will scatter your blessing, and it shall not exist among you, because ye lay not this to heart.
如果你們不聽從,不把光榮我名的事放在心上──萬軍的上主說──我必使詛咒臨到你們身上,使你們的祝福變為詛咒。我已詛咒了,因為中誰也沒有把這事放在心上。
3 Behold, I turn my back upon you, and I will scatter dung upon your faces, the dung of your feasts, and I will carry you away at the same time.
看,我必要砍斷你們的手臂,把糞污,即你們祭牲的糞污,撒在你們的臉上,使你們滿面慚愧。
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant might be with the sons of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.
這樣你們便知道,我為你們提出了這警告,是為保存我與肋未所訂立的盟約,──萬軍的上主說。
5 My covenant of life and peace was with him, and I gave [it] him that he might reverently fear me, and that he might be awe-struck at my name.
我與他訂立的盟約,是有關生命及平安的盟,所以我賜給了他生命和平安;同時又是敬畏的盟約,所以他敬畏我,對我的名有所尊敬;
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked before me directing [his way] in peace, and he turned many from unrighteousness.
在他口中有真實教訓,在他脣舌上從不見謊言;他心懷虔誠和正直與我來往,使多人遠離了罪惡。
7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.
的確,司祭的脣應保衛智識,人也應該從他的口中得到教訓,因為他是萬軍上主的使者。
8 But ye have turned aside from the way, and caused many to fail in [following] the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord Almighty.
但是你們卻離棄正道,使許多人在法律上跌倒;你們破壞了我和肋未所立的盟約──萬軍的上主說。
9 And I have made you despised and cast out among all the people, because ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
為,此我也使你們受全體人民的輕視,因為你們沒有遵行我的道,在施教訓上觀情顧面。
10 Have ye not all one father? Did not one God create you? why have ye forsaken every man his brother, to profane the covenant of your fathers?
我們是共有一個父親嗎﹖不是一個天主造生了我們嗎﹖為什麼我們彼此欺騙褻瀆我們祖先的盟約﹖
11 Juda has been forsaken, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Juda has profaned the holy things of the Lord, which he delighted in, and has gone after other gods.
猶大不守信義,在以色列和耶路撒冷行了醜惡的事,因為猶大褻瀆了上主所愛的聖所,娶了供奉邦神祗的女子。
12 The Lord will utterly destroy the man that does these things, until he be even cast down from out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and from among them that offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.
惟願上主將行這事的人,連証證的人和監誓人,從雅各伯的會幕中剷除,由向萬軍的上主奉獻祭物的集會中剷除。
13 And these things which I hated, ye did: ye covered with tears the altar of the Lord, and with weeping and groaning because of troubles: [is it] meet [for me] to have respect to your sacrifice, or to receive [anything] from your hands [as] welcome?
其次,你們還行了這件事:你們向上主的祭壇灑盡了眼淚,哭泣呻吟,
14 Yet ye said, Wherefore? Because the Lord has borne witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, whom thou has forsaken, and [yet] she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.
你們還問:「這是為什麼﹖」是因為上主是你與你青年時所娶的妻子之間的証人。她雖是你的伴侶,是你結盟的髮妻,你道對她不守信義。
15 And did he not do well? and [there was] the residue of his spirit. But ye said, What does God seek but a seed? But take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake not the wife of thy youth.
上主不是造了他們成為一體,一個肉身,一個性命嗎﹖為什麼要結為一體﹖是為求得天主的子女;所以應關心你們的性命,對你青年結髮的妻子不要背信。
16 But if thou shouldest hate [thy wife] and put her away, saith the Lord God of Israel, then ungodliness shall cover thy thoughts, saith the Lord Almighty: therefore take ye heed to your spirit, and forsake [them] not,
上主以色列的天主說:我憎恨休妻,休妻使人在自己的衣服上沾滿了不義,萬軍的上主聲明說。所以你們當關心你們的性命,不要不守信莪。
17 ye that have provoked God with your words. But ye said, Wherein have we provoked him? In that ye say, Every one that does evil is a pleasing [object] in the sight of the Lord, and he takes pleasure in such; and where is the God of justice?
你們的言談使上主生厭,你們還問:「我們在什麼事上使衪生厭﹖」即在你們說:「凡作惡的,在天主眼裏都是善的,而且衪還喜悅他們,」或說:「公義的天主在哪裏﹖」的時候。

< Malachias 2 >