< Μαλαχίας 2 >

1 καὶ νῦν ἡ ἐντολὴ αὕτη πρὸς ὑμᾶς οἱ ἱερεῖς
‘Now, you priests, this command is for you.
2 ἐὰν μὴ ἀκούσητε καὶ ἐὰν μὴ θῆσθε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ὑμῶν τοῦ δοῦναι δόξαν τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ καὶ ἐξαποστελῶ ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς τὴν κατάραν καὶ ἐπικαταράσομαι τὴν εὐλογίαν ὑμῶν καὶ καταράσομαι αὐτήν καὶ διασκεδάσω τὴν εὐλογίαν ὑμῶν καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οὐ τίθεσθε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ὑμῶν
If you will not hear, and if you do not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘Then I will lay a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. Indeed I have already done so, because you pay no attention.
3 ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀφορίζω ὑμῖν τὸν ὦμον καὶ σκορπιῶ ἤνυστρον ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν ἤνυστρον ἑορτῶν ὑμῶν καὶ λήμψομαι ὑμᾶς εἰς τὸ αὐτό
I will punish your descendants! I will spread offal upon your faces, even the offal of your pilgrim feasts, you will be discarded.
4 καὶ ἐπιγνώσεσθε διότι ἐγὼ ἐξαπέσταλκα πρὸς ὑμᾶς τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην τοῦ εἶναι τὴν διαθήκην μου πρὸς τοὺς Λευίτας λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ
You will then know that I have sent this command to you, so that my covenant with Levi may be preserved,’ says the Lord of hosts.
5 ἡ διαθήκη μου ἦν μετ’ αὐτοῦ τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτῷ ἐν φόβῳ φοβεῖσθαί με καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου ὀνόματός μου στέλλεσθαι αὐτόν
‘My covenant with him was to give life and peace. I gave them to him so that he might revere me. He revered me, and stood in awe of my name.
6 νόμος ἀληθείας ἦν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀδικία οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν χείλεσιν αὐτοῦ ἐν εἰρήνῃ κατευθύνων ἐπορεύθη μετ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ πολλοὺς ἐπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ ἀδικίας
The true instruction was in his mouth, and injustice was not found in his lips; He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.
7 ὅτι χείλη ἱερέως φυλάξεται γνῶσιν καὶ νόμον ἐκζητήσουσιν ἐκ στόματος αὐτοῦ διότι ἄγγελος κυρίου παντοκράτορός ἐστιν
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐξεκλίνατε ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ πολλοὺς ἠσθενήσατε ἐν νόμῳ διεφθείρατε τὴν διαθήκην τοῦ Λευι λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ
‘But you have turned aside from that way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,’ says the Lord of hosts.
9 κἀγὼ δέδωκα ὑμᾶς ἐξουδενωμένους καὶ παρειμένους εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἀνθ’ ὧν ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἐφυλάξασθε τὰς ὁδούς μου ἀλλὰ ἐλαμβάνετε πρόσωπα ἐν νόμῳ
‘So I have I made you contemptible and degraded before all the people, because you have not kept my ways, and have had no respect for me in imparting the law.’
10 οὐχὶ θεὸς εἷς ἔκτισεν ὑμᾶς οὐχὶ πατὴρ εἷς πάντων ὑμῶν τί ὅτι ἐγκατελίπετε ἕκαστος τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ τοῦ βεβηλῶσαι τὴν διαθήκην τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν
Don’t we have all one father? Didn’t one God created us? Why do we deal faithlessly with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
11 ἐγκατελείφθη Ιουδας καὶ βδέλυγμα ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐν Ιερουσαλημ διότι ἐβεβήλωσεν Ιουδας τὰ ἅγια κυρίου ἐν οἷς ἠγάπησεν καὶ ἐπετήδευσεν εἰς θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους
Judah is treacherous, and abominations are committed in Israel and in Jerusalem because Judah has profaned the holy things loved by the Lord, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 ἐξολεθρεύσει κύριος τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ποιοῦντα ταῦτα ἕως καὶ ταπεινωθῇ ἐκ σκηνωμάτων Ιακωβ καὶ ἐκ προσαγόντων θυσίαν τῷ κυρίῳ παντοκράτορι
May the Lord banish from the community of Jacob anyone who does this, anyone awaking, testifying, and making an offering to the Lord of hosts.
13 καὶ ταῦτα ἃ ἐμίσουν ἐποιεῖτε ἐκαλύπτετε δάκρυσιν τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου καὶ κλαυθμῷ καὶ στεναγμῷ ἐκ κόπων ἔτι ἄξιον ἐπιβλέψαι εἰς θυσίαν ἢ λαβεῖν δεκτὸν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν
And you also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, because he doesn’t accept the offering any more, doesn’t accept it from your hand.
14 καὶ εἴπατε ἕνεκεν τίνος ὅτι κύριος διεμαρτύρατο ἀνὰ μέσον σοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον γυναικὸς νεότητός σου ἣν ἐγκατέλιπες καὶ αὐτὴ κοινωνός σου καὶ γυνὴ διαθήκης σου
Yet you ask, ‘Why?’ Because the Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young. You have been unfaithful to her, even though she is your companion, and your legal wife.
15 καὶ οὐκ ἄλλος ἐποίησεν καὶ ὑπόλειμμα πνεύματος αὐτοῦ καὶ εἴπατε τί ἄλλο ἀλλ’ ἢ σπέρμα ζητεῖ ὁ θεός καὶ φυλάξασθε ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν καὶ γυναῖκα νεότητός σου μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς
Did not the one God make everyone, so that all both flesh and spirit is his? And what does that one God seek but godly children? Therefore keep watch over your spirit, and let none of you deal faithlessly with the wife of your youth.
16 ἀλλὰ ἐὰν μισήσας ἐξαποστείλῃς λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ισραηλ καὶ καλύψει ἀσέβεια ἐπὶ τὰ ἐνθυμήματά σου λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ καὶ φυλάξασθε ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐγκαταλίπητε
‘A man who divorces or puts away his wife,’ says Lord, the God of Israel, ‘overwhelms her with cruelty.’ The Lord of hosts says: ‘Keep watch over your spirit, do not be unfaithful.’
17 οἱ παροξύνοντες τὸν θεὸν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ὑμῶν καὶ εἴπατε ἐν τίνι παρωξύναμεν αὐτόν ἐν τῷ λέγειν ὑμᾶς πᾶς ποιῶν πονηρόν καλὸν ἐνώπιον κυρίου καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς αὐτὸς εὐδόκησεν καί ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς τῆς δικαιοσύνης
You have wearied the Lord with your words. You ask, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.’ Or, ‘Where is the God of justice?’

< Μαλαχίας 2 >