Ecce ego mitto angelum meum, et præparabit viam ante faciem meam: et statim veniet ad templum suum Dominator quem vos quæritis, et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis. Ecce venit, dicit Dominus exercituum.

Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.

See where I am sending an angel of mine, to make the way ready for my coming! All at once the Lord will visit his temple; that Lord, so longed for, welcome herald of a divine covenant. Ay, says the Lord of hosts, he is coming;

Et quis poterit cogitare diem adventus ejus, et quis stabit ad videndum eum? ipse enim quasi ignis conflans, et quasi herba fullonum:

And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller’s herb:

but who can bear the thought of that advent? Who will stand with head erect at his appearing? He will put men to a test fierce as the crucible, searching as the lye that fullers use.

et sedebit conflans, et emundans argentum: et purgabit filios Levi, et colabit eos quasi aurum et quasi argentum, et erunt Domino offerentes sacrificia in justitia.

And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.

From his judgement-seat, he will refine that silver of his and cleanse it from dross; like silver or gold, the sons of Levi must be refined in the crucible, ere they can offer the Lord sacrifice duly performed.

Et placebit Domino sacrificium Juda et Jerusalem, sicut dies sæculi, et sicut anni antiqui.

And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings of Juda and Jerusalem, as he did long since, in the forgotten years.

Et accedam ad vos in judicio, et ero testis velox maleficis, et adulteris, et perjuris, et qui calumniantur mercedem mercenarii, viduas et pupillos, et opprimunt peregrinum, nec timuerunt me, dicit Dominus exercituum.

And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.

Come I to hold assize, not slow to arraign the sorcerer, the adulterer, the forsworn, all of you that deny hired man his wages, widow and orphan redress, the alien his right, fearing no vengeance from the Lord of hosts.

Ego enim Dominus, et non mutor: et vos filii Jacob, non estis consumpti.

For I am the Lord, and I change not: andyou the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

In me, the Eternal, there is no change, and you, sons of Jacob, are a people still.

A diebus enim patrum vestrorum recessistis a legitimis meis, et non custodistis: revertimini ad me, et revertar ad vos, dicit Dominus exercituum. Et dixistis: In quo revertemur?

For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return?

What though you have refused my claims, left them unhonoured, as your fathers did before you? Nay, says the Lord of hosts, you have but to relent towards me, and I, in my turn, will relent. Would you know the manner of it,

Si affliget homo Deum, quia vos configitis me? Et dixistis: In quo configimus te? In decimis et in primitiis.

Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.

bethink you that it is not for man to wrong God, as you wrong me; out of all question you wrong me, over your tithes and first-fruits.

Et in penuria vos maledicti estis, et me vos configitis gens tota.

And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you.

Ay, here is sworn conspiracy; it is myself you wrong, the whole brood of you!

Inferte omnem decimam in horreum, et sit cibus in domo mea: et probate me super hoc, dicit Dominus: si non aperuero vobis cataractas cæli, et effudero vobis benedictionem usque ad abundantiam:

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance.

Do but carry your tithe into the tithe-barn, for my temple’s needs, and see if I do not open the windows of heaven for you, rain down blessing to your hearts’ content!

et increpabo pro vobis devorantem, et non corrumpet fructum terræ vestræ, nec erit sterilis vinea in agro, dicit Dominus exercituum.

And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts.12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.

Ban of mine shall fall on the locust, and to your crops he shall do no harm; nowhere in all your country-side, I promise you, shall vine cast its fruits;

Et beatos vos dicent omnes gentes: eritis enim vos terra desiderabilis, dicit Dominus exercituum.

the envy of all nations you shall be, says the Lord of hosts, a land of content.

Invaluerunt super me verba vestra, dicit Dominus.

Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.

And now, says the Lord of hosts, your complaints have had their way with me.

Et dixistis: Quid locuti sumus contra te? Dixistis: Vanus est qui servit Deo: et quod emolumentum quia custodivimus præcepta ejus, et quia ambulavimus tristes coram Domino exercituum?

And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?

Complain you did: Who serves God serves him for nothing; what reward is ours for keeping command of his, attending with sad mien the Lord of hosts?

Ergo nunc beatos dicimus arrogantes: siquidem ædificati sunt facientes impietatem, et tentaverunt Deum, et salvi facti sunt.

Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.

Here are proud folk more to be envied than we, ill-doers that yet thrive, abusers of his patience that escape all harm!

Tunc locuti sunt timentes Dominum, unusquisque cum proximo suo: et attendit Dominus, et audivit, et scriptus est liber monumenti coram eo timentibus Dominum, et cogitantibus nomen ejus.

Then they that feared the Lord spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name.

So they used to talk among themselves, his true worshippers, till at last the Lord gave them heed and hearing; and now he would have a record kept in his presence of all that so worshipped him, all that prized his renown.

Et erunt mihi, ait Dominus exercituum, in die qua ego facio, in peculium: et parcam eis, sicut parcit vir filio suo servienti sibi.

And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.

Dear they shall be to me, says the Lord of hosts, when I declare myself at last; never to loyal son was father more gracious;

Et convertemini, et videbitis quid sit inter justum et impium, et inter servientem Deo et non servientem ei.

And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

then you shall think better of it, and know them apart, the just that serve God and the sinners that are none of his.