< Lamentations 2 >

1 Oh how hath the Lord covered in his anger the daughter of Zion with a cloud; he hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the ornament of Israel; and he hath not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger!
Sɛdeɛ Awurade de nʼabufuhyeɛ omununkum akata Ɔbabaa Sion so nie? Wato Israel animuonyam firi soro abɛhwe fam; wankae ne nan ntiasoɔ wɔ nʼabufuo da no.
2 The Lord hath destroyed and hath not pitied all the habitation of Jacob: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong-holds of the daughter of Judah: he hath thrown them down to the ground; he hath defiled the kingdom and its princes.
Awurade annya ahummɔborɔ na wamene Yakob atenaeɛ nyinaa; nʼabufuhyeɛ mu, wadwiri Yuda Ɔbabaa aban denden no agu fam. Wagu nʼahennie ne ne mmapɔmma ho fi.
3 He hath hewn away in his fierce anger the whole horn of Israel; he hath drawn back his right hand before the enemy; and he burnt against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
Ɔde abufuhyeɛ atwitwa Israel mmɛn nyinaa. Wayi ne banbɔ wɔ ɛberɛ a atamfoɔ no reba. Wasɔ wɔ Yakob mu sɛ ogyadɛreɛ a ɛhye biribiara a atwa ho ahyia.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy; he held out his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion did he pour out like fire his fury.
Wapoma ne bɛmma te sɛ ɔtamfoɔ; ne nsa nifa ayɛ krado. Sɛdeɛ ɔtamfoɔ yɛ no, wakunkum wɔn a wɔyɛ fɛ wɔ anisoɔ nyinaa; wahwie nʼabufuhyeɛ sɛ ogya agu Ɔbabaa Sion ntomadan so.
5 The Lord became like an enemy; he destroyed Israel, he destroyed all her palaces, he ruined her strong-holds, and he increased in the midst of the daughter of Judah groaning and wailing.
Awurade ayɛ sɛ ɔtamfoɔ; wamene Israel. Wamene nʼahemfie nyinaa asɛe nʼabandenden. Wama awerɛhoɔdie ne agyaadwotwa adɔɔso ama Yuda Ɔbabaa.
6 And he violently wasted, as if it were a garden, his tabernacle; he destroyed his place of assembly: [yea, ] the Lord hath caused to be forgotten in Zion the solemn feast and the day of rest, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger both king and priest.
Wama nʼatenaeɛ ada mpan sɛ turo; wasɛe ne dwabirem. Awurade ama Sion werɛ afiri nʼafahyɛ ne home nna; wɔ nʼabufuhyeɛ mu no wabu ɔhene ne ɔsɔfoɔ animtia.
7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath made void his sanctuary, he hath surrendered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made their voice to resound in the house of the Lord, as on a day of a solemn feast.
Awurade apo nʼafɔrebukyia na wagyae ne kronkronbea mu. Ɔde nʼahemfie afasuo ahyɛ nʼatamfoɔ nsa. Wɔteam wɔ Awurade efie te sɛ afahyɛ da.
8 The Lord hath resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring-line, he withdrew not his hand from destroying: and he caused the rampart and the wall to mourn; together they languish.
Awurade sii nʼadwene pi sɛ ɔbɛsɛe Ɔbabaa Sion ɔfasuo a atwa ne ho ahyia no. Ɔde susuhoma too ho na wannyae ɔsɛeɛ no. Ɔmaa apie ne afasuo dii abooboo; wɔn nyinaa sɛeɛ.
9 Sunk into the ground are her gates, he hath ruined and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the nations without any law; her prophets also obtain no more any vision from the Lord.
Nʼapono amem fam; wɔn adaban nso, wabubu mu asɛe no. Ne ɔhene ne ne mmapɔmma, watwa wɔn asuo kɔ amanaman no mu, mmara nni hɔ bio, na nʼadiyifoɔ nnnya anisoadehunu a ɛfiri Awurade hɔ bio.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence: they have thrown dust upon their head; they have girt themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem have brought down low their head to the ground.
Ɔbabaa Sion mpanimfoɔ tete fam ayɛ komm; wɔde mfuturo agu wɔn tirim afirafira ayitoma. Yerusalem mmabaawa asisi wɔn tiri ase.
11 My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are heated, my liver is poured upon the earth because of the breach of the daughter of my people; because babes and sucklings faint away in the streets of the town.
Mʼani rentumi nnyae nisuteɛ, me yafunu mu retwa me, mʼakoma rete atɔ fam, ɛfiri sɛ wɔasɛe me nkurɔfoɔ, ɛfiri sɛ mmɔfra ne mmotafowa totɔ piti wɔ kuropɔn no mmɔntene so.
12 To their mothers they say, Where is corn and wine? when they faint away like the deadly wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out on the bosom of their mother.
Wɔbisa wɔn maamenom sɛ, “Ɛhe na aduane ne nsã wɔ?” Ɛberɛ a wɔtotɔ piti sɛ apirafoɔ wɔ kuropɔn no mmɔntene so, ɛberɛ a wɔn nkwa resa wɔ wɔn maamenom abasa so.
13 What shall I take to witness for thee? what shall I compare unto thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I find equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for great like the sea is thy breach; who can bring healing to thee?
Ɛdeɛn na mɛtumi aka ama woɔ? Ɛdeɛn ho na mɛtumi de wo atoto, Ao, Yerusalem Ɔbabaa? Ɛdeɛn na mɛtumi de asusu woɔ, de akyekyere wo werɛ, Ao, Sion Ɔbabaa Bunu? Wʼapirakuro so sɛ ɛpo. Hwan na ɔbɛtumi asa ama woɔ?
14 Thy prophets foresaw for thee vain and deceptive things; and they did not lay open thy iniquity, to cause thy backsliders to return: but they foresaw for thee prophecies of falsehood and seduction.
Wʼadiyifoɔ anisoadehunu yɛ atorɔ a ɛho nni mfasoɔ; wɔanna mo amumuyɛ adi ansi mo nnommumfa ano. Nkɔmhyɛ a wɔde maa mo no yɛ atorɔ ne nnaadaa.
15 All that pass by [this] way clap their hands on account of thee; they hiss and shake their head over the daughter of Jerusalem: [saying, ] Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty. The joy for all the earth?
Wɔn a wɔtwam wo ɛkwan soɔ nyinaa bobɔ wɔn nsam gu wo so; wɔdi wo ho fɛ na wɔwoso wɔn tiri gu Yerusalem Ɔbabaa so ka sɛ, “Yei ne kuropɔn a na wɔfrɛ no ahoɔfɛ a ɛdi mu no? Asase nyinaa anigyedeɛ no nie?”
16 All thy enemies open wide their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash their teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up: ah, truly this is the day that we hoped for; we have found, we have seen it.
Wʼatamfoɔ nyinaa baeɛ wɔn anom kakraa tia wo; wɔsere na wɔtwɛre wɔn se na wɔka sɛ, “Yɛamene no. Ɛda a na yɛretwɛn no nie; Yɛatena ase ahunu.”
17 The Lord hath done what he had resolved; he hath accomplished his word which he had ordained already in the days of old; he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; and he hath caused to rejoice over thee thy enemy, he hath raised on high the horn of thy adversaries.
Awurade ayɛ deɛ ɔhyehyɛeɛ; wama nʼasɛm a ɔhyɛɛ dadaada no aba mu. Watu wo agu a wanhunu wo mmɔbɔ, wama ɔtamfoɔ no ani agye wama wʼatamfoɔ no mmɛn so.
18 Their heart crieth unto the Lord, O thou wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a stream day and night; allow thyself no rest; let not the apple of thy eye be still.
Nnipa no akoma su frɛ Awurade. Ao, Sion Ɔbabaa fasuo, ma wo nisuo nsene sɛ asubɔnten awia ne anadwo; nnye wʼahome mma wʼani nso nnya ahomeɛ.
19 Arise, complain aloud in the night, in the beginning of the watches; pour out like water thy heart before the face of the Lord: lift up toward him thy hands because of the life of thy babes, that faint away for hunger at the corner of all the streets.
Sɔre, su denden anadwo ɔdasuom mfitiaseɛ; hwie wʼakoma mu nsɛm sɛ nsuo gu Awurade anim. Ma wo nsa so kyerɛ no wo mma nkwa enti, wɔn a ɛkɔm ama wʼatotɔ baha wɔ mmɔntene so.
20 See, O Lord, and behold! to whom hast thou ever done the like? Shall women, then, eat their own fruit, the babes they have tenderly nursed? or shall there be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord the priest and the prophet?
“Hwɛ na dwene ho, Ao, Awurade: Hwan na wode no afa saa ɛkwan yi so pɛn? Ɛsɛ sɛ mmaa we wɔn yafunu mma nam anaa, mma a wɔahwɛ wɔn? Ɛsɛ sɛ wɔkum ɔsɔfoɔ ne odiyifoɔ wɔ Awurade kronkronbea anaa?
21 There lie down on the ground in the streets the lad and the ancient: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain on the day of thy anger; thou hast slaughtered, thou hast not pitied.
“Mmɔfra ne mpanin adeda abɔ mu mfuturo mu wɔ mmɔntene so, me mmeranteɛ ne mmabaawa atotɔ wɔ akofena ano. Wakum wɔn wɔ wʼabufuo da; wayam wɔn na wannya ahummɔborɔ.
22 Thou hast called, as it were on a festive day, my evil neighbors from round about; and there was not on the day of the Lord's anger one that escaped or remained: those that I had tenderly nursed and reared up my enemy brought to their end.
“Sɛdeɛ wotoo wo nsa frɛ wɔ apontoɔ da no, saa ara na wofrɛfrɛɛ amanehunu firi afanan nyinaa tiaa me. Awurade abufuo da no, obiara annwane na obiara anka: wɔn a mehwɛɛ wɔn na metetee wɔn no, me ɔtamfoɔ adwerɛ wɔn.”

< Lamentations 2 >