Rotherham - Malachi

Chapter 1

1:1  The oracle of the word of Yahweh, unto Israel,—by the hand of Malachi.

1:2  I have loved you, saith Yahweh, and yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Is not Esau, brother, to Jacob? enquireth Yahweh, Yet have I loved Jacob,

1:3  And, Esau, have I hated,— and made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance [a dwelling] for the jackals of the wilderness.

1:4  Whereas Edom, may say, We are laid waste, but we will again build the desolate places, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, They, may build, but, I, will pull down,— and men shall call them, The Boundary of Lawlessness, and, The people with whom Yahweh hath indignation unto times age-abiding;

1:5  And, your own eyes, shall see,—and, ye yourselves, shall say, Yahweh, be magnified, beyond the boundary of Israel.

1:6  A son, will honour a father, and, a servant, his lord,— If then, a father, I am, where is mine honour? And, if, a lord, I am, where is my reverence? saith Yahweh of hosts— to you, ye priests, who despise my Name, and yet say, Wherein have we despised thy Name?

1:7  In bringing near upon mine altar, polluted food, while yet ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? Because ye say, As for the table of Yahweh, a thing to be despised, it is;

1:8  And when ye bring near the blind as a sacrifice, [saying] —No harm! or when ye bring near the lame or the sick [saying] —No harm! Offer it, I pray you, unto thy pasha, Will he accept thee? or lift up thy countenance? saith Yahweh of hosts.

1:9  Now, therefore, pacify, I pray you, the face of GOD, that he may grant us favour,—at your hands, hath this come to pass, Will he lift up the countenances, of any of you? saith Yahweh of hosts.

1:10  Who is there, even among you, that will shut the doors, so as not to set light to mine altar, for nothing? I can take no pleasure in you, saith Yahweh of hosts, and, your present, can I not accept at your hand.

1:11  For, from the rising of the sun, even unto the going in thereof, great is my Name among the nations, and, in every place, incense, is offered to my Name, and a pure present,—for great is my Name among the nations, saith Yahweh of hosts.

1:12  But ye are profaning me,— in that ye say, As for the table of the Lord, polluted it is, and, as for his produce, contemptible is his food.

1:13  And ye have said, Lo! what a weariness! And ye have snuffed at Me, saith Yahweh of hosts, and have brought in the torn and the lame and the sick, thus have ye brought the present,— Could I accept it at your hand? saith Yahweh.

1:14  But accursed is he that defraudeth, who, when there is in his flock a male, yet voweth and sacrificeth a corrupt thing to the Lord, for, a great king, am I, saith Yahweh of hosts, and, my Name, is revered among the nations.

Chapter 2

2:1  Now, therefore, for you, is this charge, O ye priests:—

2:2  If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my Name, saith Yahweh of hosts, then will I send among you the curse, and will curse your blessings,—and indeed I have cursed them, because ye are not at all laying it to heart.

2:3  Behold me! threatening, on your account, the seed, and I will scatter refuse upon your faces, the refuse of your festivals,—and one shall carry you away unto it;

2:4  So shall ye know that I sent unto you this charge,—as being my covenant with Levi, saith Yahweh of hosts.

2:5  My covenant, was with him, Life and Well-being, so I gave them to him—[I] as One to be revered— and he did revere me,— and, before my Name, dismayed, was he.

2:6  The deliverance of truth, was in his mouth, and, perverseness, was not found in his lips,— In well-doing and in uprightness, walked he with me, and, multitudes, did he turn from iniquity.

2:7  For, the lips of a priest, should keep knowledge, and, a deliverance, should men seek at his mouth,— for, the messenger of Yahweh of hosts, he is.

2:8  But, ye, have departed out of the way, ye have caused multitudes to stumble at the deliverance,— ye have violated the covenant of Levi, saith Yahweh of hosts.

2:9  Therefore, I also, will suffer you to be despised and of no account unto all the people,—in proportion as none of you have been keeping my ways, but have had respect to persons, in giving your deliverance.

2:10  Is there not, one Father, to us all? Did not, one GOD, create us? Wherefore should we deal treacherously one with another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

2:11  Judah, hath dealt treacherously, and, an abomination, hath been wrought in Israel, and in Jerusalem,— for Judah, had profaned, the holy place of Yahweh, which he had loved, and hath taken to himself the daughter of a foreign GOD.

2:12  May Yahweh, cut off, from the man that doeth it—him that crieth out and him that answereth, out of the tents of Jacob,— him also that bringeth near a present to Yahweh of hosts.

2:13  And, this, a second time, will ye do, covering with tears, the altar of Yahweh, weeping and making outcry,—because he will not again turn unto the gift, and receive [it] with acceptance, at your hands?

2:14  Yet ye say, For what cause? Because, Yahweh, hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, with whom, thou, hast dealt treacherously, though, she, was thy consort, and thy covenant wife.

2:15  Now was it not, One, [who] made [you] who had, the residue of the spirit? What, then, of that One? He was seeking a godly seed. Therefore should ye take heed to your spirit, and, with the wife of thy youth, do not thou deal treacherously.

2:16  For he hateth divorce, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, him also who covereth with violence his own clothing, saith Yahweh of hosts,—therefore should ye take heed to your spirit, and not deal treacherously.

2:17  Ye have wearied Yahweh with your words, and yet ye say, Wherein have we been wearisome? When ye have said, Everyone who doeth wrong, is right in the eyes of Yahweh, and, in them, he hath taken delight, or, Where is the God of justice?

Chapter 3

3:1  Behold me! sending my messenger, who will prepare a way before me,— and, suddenly, shall come to his temple The Lord whom ye are seeking, even the messenger of the covenant in whom ye are delighting, Lo! he cometh! saith Yahweh of hosts.

3:2  But who may endure the day of his coming? And who is he that can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ alkali;

3:3  Therefore will he sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and will purify the sons of Levi, and will smelt them, as gold and as silver; so shall they belong to Yahweh, offering a gift in righteousness.

3:4  Then shall the gift of Judah and Jerusalem, be pleasant to Yahweh,—as in the days of age-past times, and as in the ancient years.

3:5  Therefore will I draw near unto you for judgment, and will become a swift witness against the mutterers of incantations, and against the adulterers, and against them that swear to a falsehood,—and against them who rob the hire of the hireling, the widow and the fatherless, and that drive away the sojourner, and do not revere me, saith Yahweh of hosts.

3:6  Because, I, Yahweh, have not changed, therefore, ye, the sons of Jacob, have not been utterly consumed.

3:7  From the days of your fathers, have ye departed from my statutes, and not observed them, Return ye unto me, that I may return unto you, saith Yahweh of hosts. And yet ye say, Wherein shall we return?

3:8  Will, a son of earth, defraud, God? Nevertheless, ye, have been defrauding me, and yet ye say, Wherein have we defrauded thee? In the tithe and the offering.

3:9  With a curse, have ye been cursing, and yet, me, have ye been defrauding,— the whole nation.

3:10  Bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, Yea, I pray you, put me to the proof hereby, saith Yahweh of hosts, whether I will not open to you the sluices of the heavens, and pour out for you blessing, until there be no room.

3:11  Then will I rebuke, for you, the devourer that he spoil not, for you, the fruit of the ground,— neither shall the vine in the field, be barren to you, saith Yahweh of hosts.

3:12  So shall all the nations, pronounce you happy,—for, ye, shall become, a land of delight, saith Yahweh of hosts.

3:13  Stout against me, have been your words, saith Yahweh,—and yet ye say, What have we spoken, one to another, against thee?

3:14  Ye have said, Vain is it to serve God,—and, What profit when we have kept his charge, or when we have walked gloomily before Yahweh of hosts?

3:15  Now, therefore, we are pronouncing happy—the proud,—and, the doers of lawlessness have, even been built up, and, they who have put God to the proof, have even been delivered.

3:16  Then, they who revered Yahweh, conversed, one with another,—and Yahweh hearkened, and heard, and there was written a book of remembrance before him, for them who revered Yahweh, and for such as thought of his Name.

3:17  Therefore shall they be mine, saith Yahweh of hosts, in the day for which, I, am preparing treasure,—and I will deal tenderly with them, just as a man, dealeth tenderly, with his own son who is serving him.

3:18  So shall ye return, and see the difference, between the righteous and the lawless,—between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

Chapter 4

4:1  For lo! the day, cometh, that burneth as a furnace,—and, all the proud and everyone who worketh lawlessness, shall be, stubble, and the day that cometh, shall consume them utterly, saith Yahweh of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

4:2  So shall the sun of righteousness, arise to you who revere my Name, with healing in his wings,—and ye shall come forth and leap for joy like calves let loose from the stall;

4:3  And ye shall tread down the lawless, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet,—in the day when I am working with effect, saith Yahweh of hosts.

4:4  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,—which I commanded him in Horeb, for all Israel, statutes and regulations.

4:5  Lo! I am sending unto you Elijah the prophet,—before the coming of the great and awful day of Yahweh;

4:6  And he shall bring back the heart of the fathers unto the children, and the heart of the children unto their fathers,—lest I come, and smite the land, with utter destruction.