1 “Tita ge ti sîsabeba nî sî, daobab nî ǂhomiba tese. Ob ge ǃKhūb hîa du ra ôaba ǃnapetamase Tempeli âb ǃoa nî hā. ǁNā sîsabeb ǃgaeǀhaos dib sadu ra mûǂuibab ge ra hā,”
tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî. 2 Xawe tari-e ǁîb hās di tsēsa nî mâǃkharu ǁkhā? Tari-e ǁîb ga ǂhai, o nî mâ ǁkhā? ǁÎb ge ǀurin tsunitsuni-aob di ǀaes khami ī tsî ǁā-aob di ǀgaisa sē-i khami. 3 ǁÎb ge ǀhaiǀurib di tsunitsuni tsî ǃanuǃanu-ao-i khami ǂnû tsî Leviǁîga nî ǃanuǃanu, tsîb ge ǁîga ǃhuniǀurib khami nî ǃanuǃanu, o gu ge ǁîga ǂhanu ǁguibade ǃKhūba nî hā-ūba. 4 O di ge Judab tsî Jerusalems di ǁguibade ǃKhūba nî ǃgâiba, ǀnai di ge ǃkharu ge kurigu ǃnâ ī-i khami.
5 “Tita ge sado nî ǀgoraǃgâse sadu ǃoa nî hā, tsî ta ge ǁnātimîsi nî ǃkhō-am, ǃgai-aon, ǃgamekhôa-aon, ǂkhaba ǃkhō-amaon, sîsenaona mātares âna ra gāxaǃnân, ǃoataradi tsî ǃguniǀgôan tsî ǃhaokhoen tsîna ra ǀhôagaoǃnân tsî tita ǃaoǃgâ taman tsîn ǃoagu,”
tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî.Disiǁîǃâsa mās
6 “Tita ǃKhūta ge ǀkharaǀkharasen tama hâ. ǁNā-amagas ge sadu Jakob surib didu hîkākāhe tamasa. 7 Sadu aboxagu di tsēde xu du ge ti ǂnûiǂgāde ǃharaxū tsî ǁîde ǃkhōǀgaipe tama hâ. Tita ǃoa ǃhobasen re, o ta ge tita sado ǃoa nî oaǀkhī, tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî. Xawe du ge sado ‘Mâti da nî ǃhobasen’ ti ra mî. 8 Khoe-e Eloba gāxaǃnâ ǁkhā-e? Xawe du ge sado tita gāxaǃnâ tsî ‘Mâti da ra gāxaǃnâ tsi?’ ti ra dî. Disiǁîǃâs tsî ǁguibas tsîra ǃnâ du ge ǁnāsa ra dī. 9 ǀÂxareb ge sadu ai ǁgoe, tita du ra gāxaǃnâ amaga, sadu hoaraga ǁaes dido. 10 Hoaraga disiǁîǃâsa sâuǃnâ-omsa ǃoa hā-ū re, în ǂûna ti ommi ǃnâ hâ, î ǁnās ǀkha tita ǃâitsâ, tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî. ǃÂitsâ te, î mû ise ta ǀhommi di mûǂuidaode ǁkhowa-am tsî ǃnāǂamsa ǀkhaeba ǁhōǂuiba du tidesa. 11 Tita ge ǂhomna nî ǁkhae, în sadu ǃhūb di ǂûna tā hîkākā, tsî sadu draibehaidi ge ǂûtanioǃnâ tide,”
tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî.12 “O di ge ǁaedi hoade sado ǃgâiǃgâxa khoese nî ǃgapaǀî, sadu ǃhūb ǃgâi ǃhūse nî ī xui-ao,”
tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî.Elob ge ǂgomǂgomsana ra mādawa-am
13 “Sadu ge ǁgaisi xūna tita xa ge ǃhoa,” tib ge ǃKhūba ra mî. “Xawe du ge ‘Tare-e da ge sats xa ǃhoa?’ ti ra dî. 14 Sadu ge ge mî: ‘Eloba ǃoabas ge a ǁau. Tare-e-i harebeba da hâ, nēsi da ga ǁîb di ǂgaoǀkhāde dīǀoaǀoas tamas ka io ǃoasaran ǃnâ ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixab di ais aiǃâ ǃgûs tsîna? 15 ǀGapiǂâixa khoen a ǃgâiǃgâxasa da ge ra mû. Tsūdī-aon ge ra ǃgâiǃgâ; ǁîn ge Eloban ra ǃâitsâ, xawe ra ûiǂoa.’ ”
16 On ge ǁnān ǃKhūba ra ǃaoǃgâna ǁîǃnābe ge ǃhoa-ūgu tsîb ge ǃKhūba ǁnāsa ǃgâ tsî ge ǁnâu. O i ge ǁîb di ais aiǃâ ǂkhanis ǃnâ ge xoamâihe, ǁnān ǃKhūba ra ǃaoǃgâ tsî ǁîb ǀonsa ra ǃgôana. 17 “ǁÎn ge nî ti” tib ge ǃKhūb Hoaǀgaixaba ra mî. “ǁÎn ge tita ga hā tsēs ai nî ti ǃgomǀgausa ūhâxū kai. Tita ge ǁîna nî ǀkhomxaǃnâ, ǁgûb ra ǁîb ôab ǁîba ra ǃoababa ǀkhomxaǃnâ khami. 18 O du ge ǁkhawa ǃkharagagusiba nî mû, ǂhanu-ain tsî eloxoresan tsîn ǁaegu, Eloba ra ǃoaban tsî ǁîba ǃoaba taman tsîn ǁaegu.”
The Promised Messenger
1 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will send my messenger
to prepare the way for me.
Then suddenly the Lord
you are looking for
will appear in his temple.
The messenger you desire
is coming with my promise,
and he is on his way.
A Day of Change
2 On the day the Lord comes, he will be like a furnace that purifies silver or like strong soap in a washbasin. No one will be able to stand up to him. 3 The Lord will purify the descendants of Levi, as though they were gold or silver. Then they will bring the proper offerings to the Lord, 4 and the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will please him, just as they did in the past.
Don't Cheat God
5 The Lord All-Powerful said:
I'm now on my way to judge you. And I will quickly condemn all who practice witchcraft or cheat in marriage or tell lies in court or rob workers of their pay or mistreat widows and orphans or steal the property of foreigners or refuse to respect me.
6 Descendants of Jacob, I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. That's why you haven't been wiped out, 7 even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you.
And yet you ask, “How can we return?”
8 You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?”
You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me. 9 That's why your whole nation is under a curse. 10 I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing. 11 I will also stop locusts from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing. 12 Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken!
13 You have said horrible things about me, and yet you ask, “What have we said?”
14 Here is what you have said: “It's foolish to serve the Lord God All-Powerful. What do we get for obeying God and from going around looking sad? 15 See how happy those arrogant people are. Everyone who does wrong is successful, and when they put God to the test, they always get away with it.”
Faithfulness Is Rewarded
16 All those who truly respected the Lord and honored his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their names written as a reminder in his book.
17 Then the Lord All-Powerful said:
You people are precious to me, and when I come to bring justice, I will protect you, just as parents protect an obedient child. 18 Then everyone will once again see the difference between those who obey me by doing right and those who reject me by doing wrong.
