Jeremiah 5
1 Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness.
Kimbieni mkapite katika mitaa ya Yerusalemu, Tafuteni katika viwanja vyake. Kama mtaweza kumpata hata mtu mmoja anayetenda kwa haki na kufanya kwa uaminifu, basi nitaisamehe Yerusalemu.
2 And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
Hata kama wanasema, 'Kama BWANA aishivyo,' wanaapa uongo.”
3 O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back.
BWANA, macho yako hayatazami uaminifu? Unawapiga watu, lakini hawasikii maumivu. Umewaangsmiza kabisa, lakini bado wanakataa kuwa waadilifu. Wanafanya nyuso zao kuwa ngumu kama mwamba. kwa kuwa wanakataa kutubu.
4 Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.
Kwa hiyo nilisema, “Hakika hawa ni watu masikini, Ni wapumbavu, Kwa kuwa hawazijui njia za BWANA, wala maagizo ya Mungu wao.
5 I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands.
Nitaenda kwa watu wa muhimu na kutangaza ujumbe wa Mungu kwao, kwa kuwa angalau wanazijua njia za BWANA, maagizo ya Mungu wao. Lakini wote wanavunja nira yao pamoja; wote wanaivunja ile minyororo inayowafunga kwa ajili ya Mungu.
6 And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.
Kwa hiyo simba kutoka mwituni atawavamia. Mbweha kutoka Arabaha atawaangamiza. Chui ataivunja miji yao. Mtu yeyota anayeenda nje ya mji wake atavunjwavunjwa. Kwa kuwa maovu yao yameongezeka. Matendo yao ya uasi hayana ukomo.
7 How is it possible for you to have my forgiveness for this? your children have given me up, taking their oaths by those who are no gods: when I had given them food in full measure, they were false to their wives, taking their pleasure in the houses of loose women.
Kwa nini niwasamehe hawa watu? Wana wenu wameniacha na wamefanya viapo na wale ambao si miungu. Niliwalisha vya kutosha, lakini wamefanya uasherati na kuchukua alama za nyumba ya uzinzi.
8 They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife.
Walikuwa farasi wanaotafuta kupandwa. Walitembea huku na huku wakitafutwa kupandwa. Kila mwanamume alimkaribia mke wa jirani yake.
9 Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
Kwa hiyo kwa nini nisiwaadhibu - asema BWANA - na kwa nini nisijilipizie kisasi juu ya taifa kama hili?
10 Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
Nenda hadi kwenye kuta za shamba lake la mizabibu na zihariibuni. Lakini wao msiwaharibu kabisa. Ondoeni matawi kwa sababu hayatoki kwa BWANA.
11 For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord.
Kwa sababu nyumba ya Yuda na Israeli wamenisaliti kabisa - asema BWANA -
12 They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:
na wamenikataa. Wanasema, ''Yeye si halisi. Maovu hayawezi kutupata, wala hatutaona upanga wala njaa.
13 And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them.
Kwa kuwa manabii wamekuwa si kitu kama upepo na hakuna mtu mwiingine wa kunena ujumbe wa BWANA kwetu. Vitisho vyao na viwjie wao wenyewe.”'
14 For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it.
Kwa hiyo BWANA, Mungu wa majeshi asema hivi, tazama nataka kuweka maneno yangu katika kinywa chako. Yatakuwa kama moto na watu hawa watakuwa kama kuni! Kwa kuwa utawaramba.
15 See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.
Tazama nataka kuleta taifa dhidi yenu kutoka mbali, enyi nyumba ya Israeli - asema BWANA - ni taifa linalodumu, taifa la kale! Ni taifa ambalo lugha yake hamuijui, wala hamtaelewa wasemacho.
16 Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war.
Podo lao ni kaburi wazi. Wote ni wanajeshi.
17 They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.
Kwa hiyo mavuno yako yataliwa, wana wako na binti zako pia, na chakula chako. Watakula kondoo wako na ng'ombe wako, watakula matunda ya zabibu zako na ya mitiini. Wataiangusha chini miji yenu na boma zake ambazo mnazitumainia.
18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete.
Lakini hata katika siku hizo - asema BWANA - sikusudii kuwaharibu kabisa.
19 And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.
Itatokea kwenu, ninyi Yuda na Israeli, mkisema, 'Kwa nini BWANA, Mungu wetu ametufanyia haya yote?' kwamba wewe Yeremia, utawaambia, 'Kama vile mlivyomwacha BWANA na kuabudu miungu mingine katika nchi yenu, vivyo hivyo mtawatumikia wageni katika nchi ambayo si yenu.'
20 Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying,
Waambia haya watu wa nyumba ya Yakobo na yasikike katika Yuda. Waambie,
21 Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing:
'Sikilizeni hili, eny watu wapumbavu! Sanamu hazina matakwa; zina masikio lakini haziwawezi kusikia.
22 Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
Je, hamnihofu mimi - asema BWANA - au kutetemeka mbele ya uso wangu? Nimeweka mpaka wa mchanga kwenye bahari, ambao ni agizo la kudumu ambalo halibomoki - hata kama bahari ina kupwa na kujaa, bado hauwenzi kubomoka. Hata kama mawimbi yake yanaunguruma, hayawezi kuvuka.
23 But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.
Lakini hawa watu wana mioyo ya usumbufu. Hugeuka kuwa wapinzani na kuondoka.
24 And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting.
Kwa kuwa hawasemi mioyoni mwao, “basi na tumche BWANA, Mungu wetu, yeye aletaye mvua za awali na mvua za vuli - kwa wakati wake, ambaye hutuzna majuma ya mavuno kwa ajili yetu.”
25 Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
uovu wako umezuia haya yasitokee. Dhambi zako zimeyazuia mambo mema yasitokee.
26 For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
Kwa watu waovu wamo kati ya watu wangu. Wanatazama kama mtu anayenyatia ili kukamata ndege; wanaweka mitego na kukamata watu;
27 As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
Kama tundu la mtego lijaavyo ndege, nyumba zao zimejaa uongo. Kwa hiyo wanakua na kutajirika.
28 They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
Wamenenepa; wanang'aa na kupendeza. Wamepitiliza hata mipika ya maovu. Wala hawajali sababu ya kuwepo kwa watu na wala uwepo wa yatima. Wanafanikiwa hata kama hawatoi hukumu ya haki kwa yatima.
29 Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
Kwa nini nisiwadhibu kwa sababu ya haya - asema BWANA - sitajilipizia kisasi juu ya taifa la namna hii?
30 A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
Jambo la ajabu na la kuchukiza limetokea katika nchi hii.
31 The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?
Mananbii wanatabiri kwa uongo, na makuhani wanatwala kwa msaada wa wa hao. Watu wangu wanapenda mambo ya hivyo, lakini mwisho kitatokea nini?
