Decembris 23, 2013, Lectio

Matthaeus 3: 1-18

:1 Ecce, mitto angelum meum, et ponet viam ante faciem meam. Et mox Deus, quem quaeritis, et angelus testimonii, quem desideras, perveniet ad templum suum. Ecce, appropinquat, dicit Dominus exercituum.

3:2 Et quis poterit considerare diem adventus sui?, et quis stabit ad videndum eum? Est enim sicut ignis conflans, et sicut herba fullonis.

3:3 Et sedebit expoliens et mundans argentum, et purgabit filios Levi, et colliget eos quasi aurum et quasi argentum, et immolabunt Domino in iustitia.

3:4 et placebit sacrificium Iudae et Ierusalem Domino, sicut in diebus praeteritis saeculis, et sicut in annis antiquis.

3:5 And I will approach you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against evil-doers, and adulterers, and perjurers, and those who cheat the hired hand in his wages, the widows and the orphans, and who oppress the traveler, and who have not feared me, dicit Dominus exercituum.

3:6 ego enim sum Dominus, and I do not change. et tu, the sons of Jacob, have not been consumed.

3:7 For, from the days of your fathers, you have withdrawn from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, dicit Dominus exercituum. Et dixisti, “In what way, shall we return?"

3:8 If a man will afflict God, then you greatly afflict me. Et dixisti, “In what way, do we afflict you?” In tithes and in first-fruits.

3:9 And you have been cursed with privation, and you greatly afflict me, even your entire people.

3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and let there be food in my house. And test me about this, dicit Dominus, as to whether I will not open to you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out to you a blessing, all the way to abundance.

3:11 And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he will not corrupt the fruit of your land. Neither will the vine in the field be barren, dicit Dominus exercituum.

3:12 And all nations will call you blessed. For you will be a desirable land, dicit Dominus exercituum.

3:13 Your words have gathered strength over me, dicit Dominus.

3:14 Et dixisti, “What have we spoken against you?” You have said, “He labors in vain who serves God," et, “What advantage is it that we have kept his precepts, and that we have walked sorrowfully in the sight of the Lord of hosts?

3:15 Ergo, we now call the arrogant blessed, as if those who work impiety have been built up, and as if they have tempted God and been saved.”

3:16 Then those who fear the Lord spoke, each one with his neighbor. And the Lord paid attention and heeded. And a book of remembrance was written in his sight, for those who fear the Lord and for those who consider his name.

3:17 And they will be my special possession, dicit Dominus exercituum, on the day that I act. And I will spare them, just as a man spares his son who serves him.

3:18 And you shall be converted, and you will see the difference between the just and the impious, and between those who serve God and those who do not serve him.