Malachi 3
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says the LORD of Armies.
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。
2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;
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
3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the LORD offerings in righteousness.
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：
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD as in the days of old and as in ancient years.
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。
5 I will come near to you to judgement. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says the LORD of Armies.
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。
6 “For I, the LORD, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
是的，我是上主，決不改變；但你們總是雅各伯的子孫!
7 From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
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﹖」
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.
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。
9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.
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。
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be enough room for.
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。
11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says the LORD of Armies.
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。
12 “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Armies.
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。
13 “Your words have been harsh against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
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﹖」
14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God,’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of Armies?
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﹖
15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
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! 」
16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke one with another; and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of memory was written before him for those who feared the LORD and who honoured his name.
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。
17 They shall be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
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。
18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
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。
