Jeremiah 5
1 Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can fins a man that executeth judgement, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.
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: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely.
Hata kama wanasema, 'Kama BWANA aishivyo,' wanaapa uongo.”
3 O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return.
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 But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgement of 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 therefore to the great men, and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God: and behold these have together broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds.
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 Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening, hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.
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 can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house.
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 are become as amorous horses and stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
Walikuwa farasi wanaotafuta kupandwa. Walitembea huku na huku wakitafutwa kupandwa. Kila mwanamume alimkaribia mke wa jirani yake.
9 Shall I not visit for these things, sayeth the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
Kwa hiyo kwa nini nisiwaadhibu - asema BWANA - na kwa nini nisijilipizie kisasi juu ya taifa kama hili?
10 Scale down the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because 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 house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
Kwa sababu nyumba ya Yuda na Israeli wamenisaliti kabisa - asema BWANA -
12 They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.
na wamenikataa. Wanasema, ''Yeye si halisi. Maovu hayawezi kutupata, wala hatutaona upanga wala njaa.
13 The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall 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 Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them.
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 Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.
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 quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.
Podo lao ni kaburi wazi. Wote ni wanajeshi.
17 And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.
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 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.
Lakini hata katika siku hizo - asema BWANA - sikusudii kuwaharibu kabisa.
19 And if you shall say: why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.
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 Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying:
Waambia haya watu wa nyumba ya Yakobo na yasikike katika Yuda. Waambie,
21 Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not.
'Sikilizeni hili, eny watu wapumbavu! Sanamu hazina matakwa; zina masikio lakini haziwawezi kusikia.
22 Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over 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 become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away.
Lakini hawa watu wana mioyo ya usumbufu. Hugeuka kuwa wapinzani na kuondoka.
24 And they have not said in their heart: let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest.
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 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
uovu wako umezuia haya yasitokee. Dhambi zako zimeyazuia mambo mema yasitokee.
26 For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.
Kwa watu waovu wamo kati ya watu wangu. Wanatazama kama mtu anayenyatia ili kukamata ndege; wanaweka mitego na kukamata watu;
27 As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.
Kama tundu la mtego lijaavyo ndege, nyumba zao zimejaa uongo. Kwa hiyo wanakua na kutajirika.
28 They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, they have not judged the judgement of the poor.
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 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
Kwa nini nisiwadhibu kwa sababu ya haya - asema BWANA - sitajilipizia kisasi juu ya taifa la namna hii?
30 Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.
Jambo la ajabu na la kuchukiza limetokea katika nchi hii.
31 The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?
Mananbii wanatabiri kwa uongo, na makuhani wanatwala kwa msaada wa wa hao. Watu wangu wanapenda mambo ya hivyo, lakini mwisho kitatokea nini?
