Jeremiah 12
1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Wewe daima u mwenye haki, Ee Bwana, niletapo mashtaka mbele yako. Hata hivyo nitazungumza nawe kuhusu hukumu yako: Kwa nini njia ya waovu inafanikiwa? Kwa nini wasio waaminifu wote wanaishi kwa raha?
2 You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
Umewapanda, nao wameota, wanakua na kuzaa matunda. Daima u midomoni mwao, lakini mbali na mioyo yao.
3 But You know me, O LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter and set them apart for the day of carnage.
Hata hivyo unanijua mimi, Ee Bwana; unaniona na kuyachunguza mawazo yangu kukuhusu wewe. Wakokote kama kondoo wanaokwenda kuchinjwa! Watenge kwa ajili ya siku ya kuchinjwa!
4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
Je, nchi itakaa katika hali ya kuomboleza mpaka lini, na majani katika kila shamba kunyauka? Kwa sababu wale waishio ndani yake ni waovu, wanyama na ndege wameangamia. Zaidi ya hayo, watu wanasema, “Bwana hataona yatakayotupata sisi.”
5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
“Ikiwa umeshindana mbio na watu kwa mguu na wakakushinda, unawezaje kushindana na farasi? Ikiwa unajikwaa kwenye nchi ambayo ni salama, utawezaje kwenye vichaka kando ya Yordani?
6 Even your brothers— your own father’s household— even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
Ndugu zako, watu wa jamaa yako mwenyewe: hata wao wamekusaliti; wameinua kilio kikubwa dhidi yako. Usiwaamini, ingawa wanazungumza mema juu yako.
7 I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies.
“Nitaiacha nyumba yangu, nitupe urithi wangu; nitamtia yeye nimpendaye mikononi mwa adui zake.
8 My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her.
Urithi wangu umekuwa kwangu kama simba wa msituni. Huningurumia mimi, kwa hiyo ninamchukia.
9 Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her.
Je, urithi wangu haukuwa kama ndege wa mawindo wa madoadoa ambaye ndege wengine wawindao humzunguka na kumshambulia? Nenda ukawakusanye pamoja wanyama wote wa mwituni; walete ili wale.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
Wachungaji wengi wataliharibu shamba langu la mizabibu na kulikanyaga shamba langu; watalifanya shamba langu zuri kuwa jangwa la ukiwa.
11 They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
Litafanywa kuwa jangwa, lililokauka na kuachwa ukiwa mbele zangu; nchi yote itafanywa jangwa kwa sababu hakuna hata mmoja anayejali.
12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other. No flesh has peace.
Juu ya miinuko yote ilivyo kama jangwani mharabu atajaa, kwa maana upanga wa Bwana utawala, kuanzia ncha moja ya nchi hadi nyingine; hakuna hata mmoja atakayekuwa salama.
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
Watapanda ngano lakini watavuna miiba; watajitaabisha lakini hawatafaidi chochote. Kwa hiyo beba aibu ya mavuno yako kwa sababu ya hasira kali ya Bwana Mungu.”
14 This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
Hili ndilo asemalo Bwana: “Kwa habari ya majirani zangu wote wabaya wanaonyangʼanya urithi ambao ninawapa watu wangu Israeli, nitawangʼoa kutoka nchi zao, nami nitaingʼoa nyumba ya Yuda kutoka katikati yao.
15 But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
Lakini baada ya kuwangʼoa, nitawahurumia tena na kumrudisha kila mmoja wao kwenye urithi wake mwenyewe na kwenye nchi yake mwenyewe.
16 And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people.
Ikiwa watajifunza vyema njia za watu wangu na kuapa kwa Jina langu, wakisema, ‘Hakika kama Bwana aishivyo,’ hata kama wakati fulani walifundisha watu wangu kuapa kwa Baali, ndipo watakapofanywa imara katikati ya watu wangu.
17 But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
Lakini kama taifa lolote halitasikiliza na kutii, nitalingʼoa kabisa na kuliangamiza,” asema Bwana.
