Jeremiah 12
1 Aw Angraeng, nang khaeah lok ka thuih kruek, na toenghaih amtueng; toe tipongah kasae kaminawk hoi oep thok ai kaminawk to khosak hoih o lat loe? tiah lokdueng han ka tawnh.
Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy [about what is happening to me], you [always] act justly/fairly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing [that I do not understand]: Why are wicked people [often] very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest/wicked people?
2 Nangmah ni nihcae to na thling, ue, tangzun na caksak moe, a qoeng o tahang, ue, athaih athaih o; nang loe nihcae pakha taengah na oh, toe palung hoi loe nang thla taak.
You allow them to prosper like [MET] trees that grow tall and bear [a lot of] fruit. They [always] say [MTY] good things about you, but their hearts are [really] far from you.
3 Toe Angraeng, kai hae nang panoek; kai hae nang hnuk, palung thungah ka poek ih hmuen doeh nang panoek pae; boh han kaom tuunawk to pathok baktiah, kahoih ai kaminawk to pathok ah; nihcae to humhaih ni phak naah hum hanah pahoe ah.
But Yahweh, as for me, you know what is in my inner being. You see what I [do] and you are able to know what I am thinking. So drag away those [wicked] people, like [people drag away] sheep that they are going to butcher. Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!
4 Prae thungah kaom kaminawk ih zaehaih pongah, prae loe nasetto maw palungna panoek vop ueloe, taw ih phrohnawk doeh nasetto maw zaek o vop tih? Ka zae o haih Sithaw mah hnu mak ai, tiah kaminawk mah thuih o. Nihcae zaehaih pongah, moisan hoi tavaanawk doeh anghmat o boih boeh.
This land is [RHQ] becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. The wild animals and the birds have [all] died because the people are [very] wicked. [All that has happened] because the people have said, “Yahweh does not know what we are doing (OR, what will happen to us)!”
5 Jeremiah, khok hoi na cawnh naah mataeng doeh nang pho nahaeloe, kawbangmaw hrang hoiah cawnh nang noek thai tih? Mawnhaih om ai, misa amdinghaih prae ah mataeng doeh nang pho nahaeloe, Jordan vapui taeng ih taw thungah cae loe kawbangmaw na om tih?
[Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me], [“It is as though] you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you [stumble and] fall when you are running on open/bare/smooth ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thornbushes near the Jordan [River]?
6 Nam nawkamyanawk, nam pa imthung takoh mah mataeng doeh, na nuiah oepthok o ai. na hnukah patom hanah nihcae mah kami pop ah kawk o; nihcae mah na nuiah kahoih lok thui o cadoeh, nihcae to tang hmah.
[Already] your brothers and [other members of] your own family oppose you. They (plot against/plan to do evil things to) you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them!
7 Kaimah ih im to ka pahnawt sut boeh; kaimah ih qawk doeh ka caehtaak boeh; ka palung duek ih ka hinghaih loe a misanawk ban ah ka paek boeh.
I have abandoned my [Israeli] people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the Israeli people, whom I love.
8 Kai ih qawk loe taw ih kaipui baktiah ni oh boeh; anih mah kai ang hang thuih; to pongah ka hnukma.
My people have become to me like [SIM] a lion in the forest. [It is as though] they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them.
9 Kai ih qawk loe moi kacaa tavaa baktiah oh; anih taengah kaom tavaanawk mah anih to patuk o; taw ih moinawk boih angzoh o moe, nawnto angpop o pacoengah, anih ih moi to caak hanah thui paeh.
My chosen people have [RHQ] become like speckled hawks that are surrounded by vultures [waiting to eat their flesh after they are dead]. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat [the flesh of their corpses].
10 Pop parai kami zaehoikungnawk mah kai ih misur takha to phraek o, kai ih taham to khok tlim ah cawh o moe, kahoih parai kai ih taham to, kapong sut praezaek ah oh o sak boeh.
Many rulers [from other countries have come with their armies and] devastated/destroyed my people [whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his] vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives.
11 Nihcae mah paro o moe, palungnat hoiah kai khaeah a qah o; khenzawn kami mi doeh om ai pongah, prae boih pong sut boeh.
They have caused it to become completely empty; [it is as though] I hear the land crying sadly/mournfully. The whole land is desolate, and no one (worries about/pays any attention to) it.
12 Paro kaminawk loe praezaek hoiah hmuensang nui boih ah angzoh o: prae boenghaih maeto hoi maeto bang khoek to, Angraeng ih sumsen mah paaeh boih tih; mi doeh monghaih tawn o mak ai.
The soldiers [of our enemies] have marched across all the barren hilltops. But [I], Yahweh, am using those armies [MTY] to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape.
13 Cang to na tuh o tih, toe soekhring ni aat o tih; tha naa o parai tih, toe tidoeh hak o mak ai; Angraeng palungphui parai pongah, nihcae mah azathaih ni aat o tih.
[It is as though] my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired [because of much hard work], but they have gained nothing [from all that work]. They will be very disappointed because their harvests [will be very small], [and that will happen] because [I], Yahweh, am extremely angry [with them].”
14 Angraeng mah hae tiah thuih; Kai ih kami Israelnawk khaeah toep han ka paek ih qawk la kami, kahoih ai ka imtaeng kaminawk boih, khenah, a prae thung hoiah ka phongh han, nihcae thung hoiah Judah imthung takoh to ka phongh han.
This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “[I will punish] the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israeli people, and I will force them to leave their own land. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their land, also.
15 Toe nihcae to ka phongh pacoengah, nihcae nuiah tahmenhaih ka tawnh let moe, kami boih angmacae qawktoephaih ahmuen hoi angmacae prae ah ka hoih let han.
But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each [clan] will come back to its own land.
16 Nihcae loe Baal bok hanah kai ih kaminawk to patuk o; toe nihcae mah vaihi Kai ih ahmin hoiah Angraeng loe hing, tiah lokkamhaih sah o moe, kahoih kai kaminawk ih tuinuen to amtuk o nahaeloe, nihcae to kaimah ih kaminawk salakah ka caksak han.
And if the people [of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel] learn the [religious] customs of my people, and if they learn that I [am listening] when they solemnly promise that they will do something good, like they taught my people to believe that [their god] Baal [was listening] when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people.
17 Toe nihcae mah ka lok tahngai o ai nahaeloe, nihcae to prae thung hoiah ka phongh moe, kam rosak boih han, tiah Angraeng mah thuih.
But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
