玛拉基书 1
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
1 以下是耶和华借玛拉基对以色列人的宣告。
耶和华爱以色列
2 耶和华说：“我曾爱你们。”你们却说：“你在何事上爱我们呢？”耶和华说：“以扫不是雅各的哥哥吗？但我却爱雅各， 3 厌恶以扫。我使以扫的山岭荒凉，把他的地业留给旷野的豺狼。” 4 也许以扫的后代以东人会说：“我们现在虽然被毁，但我们要重建毁坏之处。”万军之耶和华却这样说：“他们尽管建造，但我必拆毁。他们的土地要被称为‘罪恶之地’，他们要被称为‘耶和华永远恼怒之民。’” 5 以色列人啊，你们必亲眼看见这事，也必说：“愿耶和华在以色列境外受尊崇！”
斥责祭司
6 万军之耶和华对祭司说：“儿子应当尊敬父亲，仆人应当敬畏主人。我是你们的父亲，但你们对我的尊敬在哪里呢？我是你们的主人，但你们对我的敬畏在哪里呢？你们藐视我的名，却狡辩说，‘我们在何事上藐视过你的名呢？’ 7 你们把污秽的食物献在我的祭坛上，还说，‘我们在何事上玷污了你呢？’你们说耶和华的桌子是可藐视的。 8 你们拿瞎眼、瘸腿和有病的牲畜来献祭，难道这不是罪过吗？你试试把这样的东西送给你的省长，看他会不会悦纳你、恩待你。这是万军之耶和华说的。”
9 现在，你们祈求上帝向我们施恩吧！然而，你们献上这样的祭物，祂怎会垂听你们的祈求呢？ 10 万军之耶和华说：“我真希望你们当中有人把殿门关上，免得你们在我祭坛上枉然点火。因为我不喜悦你们，也不接纳你们的祭物。” 11 万军之耶和华说：“从日出之地到日落之处，列国必尊崇我的名。世上每个角落都有人向我焚香，献上洁净的供物。因为我的名必受列国尊崇。 12 可是，你们却亵渎我的名，竟然说我的桌子是污秽的，上面的祭物是可藐视的。 13 你们不屑地说，‘哼！这些事真麻烦！’这是万军之耶和华说的。你们把抢来的、瘸腿的、有病的献给我，我岂能接纳呢？这是耶和华说的。 14 许愿时说要献上羊群中的公羊，后来却拿伤残的来献给主，这种人该受咒诅！因为我是大君王，就是外族人也敬畏我的名。这是万军之耶和华说的。”
Malachi 1
EasyEnglish Bible
God has loved Jacob but not Esau
1 This is the message that the Lord told to Malachi.[a] Malachi knew that he must tell this message to the Israelites.
2 The Lord says, ‘I have loved you.’
But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’[b]
The Lord says, ‘I chose to love Jacob and his descendants. Esau was Jacob's brother. 3 But I have not loved Esau and his descendants.[c]
Instead, I have caused trouble for Esau. I caused Esau's mountains to become a wilderness. Nobody uses that land any longer. Now there are only jackals in the land that belongs to Esau.’
4 Esau's descendants in Edom may say, ‘They have destroyed our towns, but we will build our houses again.’
But the Lord Almighty says, ‘They may build again, but I will knock everything down. People will call Edom, “The Evil Land”.[d] They will call them, “The Nation that the Lord is angry with for ever”. 5 You will see with your own eyes what I will do to them. Then you will say, “The Lord has great power, even beyond Israel's borders.” ’
The priests do not respect God
6 The Lord Almighty says this to the priests:
‘A son respects his father. A servant respects his master. If I am really your father and your master, why do you not respect me? You are my priests, but you insult my name.[e]
But then you ask, “What have we done to insult your name?”
7 You insult my name when you offer unclean sacrifices to me on my altar.
But you ask, “How have we offered unclean sacrifices to you?”
You have shown that you do not respect the Lord's altar as important.[f] 8 You offer blind animals as a sacrifice to me. You know that is wrong. You offer to me animals that cannot walk or animals that are ill. That is also a wrong thing to do. You would not give gifts like that to your city's ruler. If you did, he would surely not accept them. He would not be happy with your gifts.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
9 ‘Now you ask me to be kind to you. You want me to forgive you. But when you offer unclean animals as gifts to me, I will not be happy with your gifts.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
10 ‘It would be better if one of you shut the temple doors! Then you would not be able to offer useless sacrifices on my altar. I am not happy with you. I will not accept any more gifts from you.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
11 ‘People in every nation of the whole world will respect my name. People everywhere will offer incense and pure sacrifices to worship me. They will all know that I am great.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
12 ‘But you priests insult my name. You say that the Lord's altar is not special. You think that the food which you offer to me has no value. 13 You also say, “It is too much trouble to serve the Lord.” You think that you are too important to serve me.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
‘You offer to me animals that cannot walk or that are ill. You have even robbed other people to get some of these animals. Do you think that I will accept these unclean animals from you? Will I be happy with them?’
That is what the Lord says.
14 ‘You may promise to offer to me a valuable male animal from among your sheep. But then you change your mind. Instead, you offer to me an animal that has no value. I will surely punish you when you cheat me like that. Remember that I am a great king. People of all nations in the world respect my name with fear.’
That is what the Lord Almighty says.
Footnotes
- 1:1 When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.
- 1:2 God says that he loves the Israelites because they are his special people.
- 1:3 Esau and Jacob were brothers who were twins. Esau was born first. So he should have received God's special blessing. But Esau sold his blessing to Jacob.
- 1:4 The people of Edom were Esau's descendants. They lived in the mountains. Then powerful enemies fought them. The Edomites had to leave their homes. Nobody lived there any longer.
- 1:6 When an Israelite spoke about God's name, he was speaking about God himself. So to insult the name of God was to show no respect for God himself.
- 1:7 The Israelites gave gifts as sacrifices to God. God told them in his Law how they should do that. They brought their gifts to the priests, who then made the sacrifices. Malachi says that the people and the priests were trying to cheat God. The gifts that they offered were not good and pure in the way that God said they should be.
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