The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 606

2:11. Juda hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange G.o.d.

2:12. The Lord will cut off the man that hath done this, both the master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts.

2:13. And this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands.

With tears... Viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away: and who came to weep and lament before the altar.

2:14. And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.

2:15. Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And what doth one seek, but the seed of G.o.d? Keep then your spirit, and despise not the wife of thy youth.

2:16. When thon shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord, the G.o.d of lsrael: but iniquity shalt cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts, keep your spirit, and despise not.

Iniquity shall cover his garment... Viz., of every man that putteth away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that G.o.d permitted it in the law, to prevent the evil of murder.

2:17. You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the G.o.d of judgment?

Malachias Chapter 3

Christ shall come to his temple, and purify the priesthood. They that continue in their evil ways shall be punished: but true penitents shall receive a blessing.

3:1. 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.

My angel... Viz., John the Baptist, the messenger of G.o.d, and forerunner of Christ.

3:2. 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:

3:3. 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.

3:4. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

3:5. 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.

3:6. For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

3:7. 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?

3:8. Shall a man afflict G.o.d, for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in t.i.thes and in firstfruits.

3:9. And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you.

3:10. Bring all the t.i.thes 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.

3:11. 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.

3:12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.

3:13. Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.

3:14. And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth G.o.d, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?

3:15. Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted G.o.d and are preserved.

3:16. 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.

3:17. 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.

3:18. And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth G.o.d, and him that serveth him not.

Malachias Chapter 4

The judgment of the wicked, and reward of the just. An exhortation to observe the law. Elias shall come for the conversion of the Jews.

4:1. For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch.

4:2. But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd.

4:3. And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts. 4:4. Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in h.o.r.eb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.

4:5. Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

4:6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.

He shall turn the heart, etc... By bringing over the Jews to the faith of Christ, he shall reconcile them to their fathers, viz., the partiarchs and prophets; whose hearts for many ages have been turned away from them, because of their refusing to believe in Christ.-Ibid.

With anathema... In the Hebrew, Cherem, that is, with utter destruction.

THE FIRST BOOK OF MACHABEES

These books are so called, because they contain the history of the people of G.o.d under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren: and he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in his ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to thee among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the Hebrew, are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these books. But as to their authority, though they are not received by the Jews, saith St. Augustine, (lib. 18, De Civ. Dei, c. 36,) they are received by the church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures, chose rather to be directed by the tradition she had received from the apostles of Christ, than by that of the scribes and Pharisees. And as the church has declared these two Books canonical, even in two general councils, viz., Florence and Trent, there can be no doubt of their authenticity.

1 Machabees Chapter 1

The reign of Alexander and his successors: Antiochus rifles and profanes the temple of G.o.d: and persecutes unto death all that will not forsake the law of G.o.d, and the religion of their fathers.

1:1. Now it came to pa.s.s, after that Alexander the son of Philip the Macedonian, who first reigned in Greece, coming out of the land of Cethim, had overthrown Darius, king of the Persians and Medes:

1:2. He fought many battles, and took the strong holds of all, and slew the kings of the earth:

1:3. And he went through even to the ends of the earth: and took the spoils of many nations: and the earth was quiet before him.

1:4. And he gathered a power, and a very strong army: and his heart was exalted and lifted up:

1:5. And he subdued countries of nations, and princes; and they became tributaries to him.