Greek: Septuagint (LXX)
English: John Barach
English: John Barach
Chapter3
The Messenger and the Refiner’s Fire
| 1 ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξαποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου καὶ ἐπιβλέψεται ὁδὸν πρὸ προσώπου μου, καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἑαυτοῦ κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε· ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. 2 καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ; ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ; διότι αὐτὸς εἰσπορεύεται ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου καὶ ὡς πόα πλυνόντων. 3 καὶ καθιεῖται χωνεύων καὶ καθαρίζων ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς τὸ χρυσίον· καὶ καθαρίσει τοὺς υἱοὺς Λευὶ καὶ χεεῖ αὐτοὺς ὡς τὸ χρυσίον καὶ ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον· καὶ ἔσονται τῷ κυρίῳ προσάγοντες θυσίαν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. | 1 "Behold, I send My messenger (aggelon), and he will survey the way before My face; and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, will come to His temple—even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom you desire. Behold, He is coming," says the Lord Almighty (pantokratōr). 2 "And who will endure the day of His coming? Or who will withstand His appearing (optasia)? For He enters like the fire of a refinery and like the soap (poa) of the launderers. 3 And He will sit refining and purifying like silver and like gold; and He will purify the sons of Levi and pour (cheeī) them out like gold and like silver; and they shall be for the Lord those who bring a sacrifice in righteousness." |
The Divine Witness and the Call to Return
| 4 καὶ ἀρέσει τῷ κυρίῳ θυσία Ἰούδα καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ καθὼς τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἔμπροσθεν. 5 καὶ προσάξω πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἔσομαι μάρτυς ταχὺς ἐπὶ τὰς φαρμακοὺς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς μοιχαλίδας καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὀμνύοντας τῷ ὀνόματί μου ἐπὶ ψεύδει καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀποστεροῦντας μισθὸν μισθωτοῦ καὶ τοὺς καταδυναστεύοντας χήραν καὶ τοὺς κονδυλίζοντας ὀρφανοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἐκκλίνοντας κρίσιν προσηλύτου καὶ τοὺς μὴ φοβουμένους με λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. 6 διότι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι καὶ ὑμεῖς, υἱοὶ Ἰακώβ, οὐκ ἀπέχεσθε 7 ἀπὸ τῶν ἀδικιῶν τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν, ἐξεκλίνατε νόμιμά μου καὶ οὐκ ἐφυλάξασθε. | 4 "And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in the days of old and as in the former years. 5 And I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers (pharmakous), and against the adulteresses, and against those who swear by My name falsely, and against those who withhold the wage of the laborer, and those who oppress the widow, and those who strike orphans (kondylizontas orphanous), and those who turn aside the justice of the sojourner, and those who do not fear Me," says the Lord Almighty. 6 "Because I am the Lord your God, and I have not changed; and you, sons of Jacob, have not refrained 7 from the injustices of your fathers; you turned aside My laws and did not keep them." |
| ἐπιστρέψατε πρός με, καὶ ἐπιστραφήσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. καὶ εἴπατε, ἐν τίνι ἐπιστρέψωμεν; | "Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. "And you said, 'In what way shall we return?'" |
Supplanting God and the Windows of Heaven
| 8 εἰ πτερνιεῖ ἄνθρωπος θεόν; διότι ὑμεῖς πτερνίζετέ με· καὶ ἐρεῖτε, ἐν τίνι ἐπτερνίκαμέν σε; ὅτι τὰ ἐπιδέκατα καὶ αἱ ἀπαρχαὶ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰσιν· 9 καὶ ἀποβλέποντες ὑμεῖς ἀποβλέπετε καὶ ἐμὲ ὑμεῖς πτερνίζετε· τὸ ἔθνος1 συνετελέσθη. | 8 "Will a man supplant (pterniei) God? For you are supplanting Me! And you will say, 'In what way have we supplanted You?' Because the tithes and the firstfruits are with you! 9 And you look away and look away (apoblepontes apoblepete), yet you supplant Me; the nation has been brought to an end (syntetelestai)." |
| 10 καὶ εἰσηνέγκατε πάντα τὰ ἐκφόρια εἰς τοὺς θησαυρούς, καὶ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ ἔσται ἡ διαρπαγὴ αὐτοῦ. ἐπισκέψασθε δὴ ἐν τούτῳ, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ, ἐὰν μὴ ἀνοίξω ὑμῖν τοὺς καταρράκτας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐκχεῶ ὑμῖν τὴν εὐλογίαν μου ἕως τοῦ ἱκανωθῆναι· 11 καὶ διαστελῶ ὑμῖν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ οὐ μὴ διαφθείρω ὑμῶν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς γῆς καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀσθενήσῃ ὑμῶν ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. 12 καὶ μακαριοῦσιν ὑμᾶς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, διότι ἔσεσθε ὑμεῖς γῆ θελητή λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. | 10 "And you brought all the produce into the storehouses, and in His house shall be its plunder (diarpagē). Survey this indeed," says the Lord Almighty, "to see if I will not open to you the floodgates (katarraktas) of heaven and pour out My blessing for you until there is enough. 11 And I will distinguish for you [the things] for food, and I will not destroy the fruit of your land, and your vine in the field shall not be weak," says the Lord Almighty. 12 "And all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a desired land," says the Lord Almighty. |
| 13 ἐβαρύνατε ἐπ' ἐμὲ τοὺς λόγους ὑμῶν, λέγει κύριος, καὶ εἴπατε, ἐν τίνι κατελαλήσαμεν κατὰ σου; 14 εἴπατε μάταιος ὁ δουλεύων θεῷ, καὶ τί πλέον ὅτι ἐφυλάξαμεν τὰ φυλάγματα αὐτοῦ καὶ διότι ἐπορεύθημεν ἱκέται πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου παντοκράτορος; 15 καὶ νῦν ἡμεῖς μακαρίζομεν ἀλλοτρίους καὶ ἀνοικοδομοῦνται πάντες ποιοῦντες ἄνομα καὶ ἀντέστησαν θεῷ καὶ ἐσώθησαν. | 13 "You have weighed down your words against Me," says the Lord, "and you said, 'In what way did we speak against You?' 14 You said, 'Vain is he who serves God, and what profit is it that we kept His charges and that we walked as suppliants (hiketai) before the face of the Lord Almighty? 15 And now we call strangers blessed, and all those who do lawless things are rebuilt; they even resisted God and were saved.'" |
The Book of Remembrance
| 16 ταῦτα κατελάλησαν οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον, ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ· καὶ προσέσχεν κύριος καὶ εἰσήκουσεν καὶ ἔγραψεν βιβλίον μνημοσύνου ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸν κύριον καὶ εὐλαβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. 17 καὶ ἔσονταί μοι λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ, εἰς ἡμέραν, ἣν ἐγὼ ποιῶ εἰς περιποίησιν, καὶ αἱρετιῶ αὐτοὺς ὃν τρόπον αἱρετίζει ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν δουλεύοντα αὐτῷ. 18 καὶ ἐπιστραφήσεσθε καὶ ὄψεσθε ἀνὰ μέσον δικαίου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον ἀνόμου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ δουλεύοντος θεῷ καὶ τοῦ μὴ δουλεύοντος. | 16 These things those who fear the Lord spoke—each to his neighbor. And the Lord took heed and listened, and He wrote a book of remembrance (biblion mnēmosynou) before Him for those who fear the Lord and reverence His name. 17 "And they shall be Mine," says the Lord Almighty, "for a day which I am making for a possession (peripoiēsin); and I will choose them just as a man chooses his own son who serves him. 18 And you shall turn and see [the difference] between the righteous and the lawless, and between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him." |