Ezekiel 15

1 Yahweh gave me another message. [He said],

Ilizwi likaThixo lafika kimi lisithi:

2 “You human, the wood of a grapevine is certainly not [RHQ] more useful that the branches of the trees in a forest.

“Ndodana yomuntu, isigodo sevini silwedlula ngani ugatsha lwaloba yisiphi sezihlahla eziseguswini na?

3 No one [RHQ] ever takes a branch of a grapevine and makes anything [useful] from it. No one [RHQ] even makes pegs from them to hang things on.

Isigodo siyake sithathwe kulo ukuba kwenziwe ulutho olusizayo na? Bayazenza izikhonkwane ngalo ukuba kulengiswe izinto kuzo na?

4 And after a branch of a grapevine is thrown into a fire, and the fire burns both ends and chars/scorches the branch in the middle, will it then be useful for anything?

Njalo emva kokuba sesiphoselwe emlilweni njengokhuni, umlilo usitshise izihloko zombili lomzaca waphakathi uhaqazeke, siselosizo ekwenzeni olunye ulutho na?

5 No; if it was not useful for anything before it was burned, it certainly cannot [made into something] useful after the fire has burned and charred it.

Nxa sasingelasizo ekwenzeni ulutho sisaphelele, kuncane kangakanani okungenziwa ukuthi sibe yilutho olusizayo lapho umlilo ususitshisile njalo sesililahle na?

6 Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: The wood of grapevines is useful only for fuel in a fire. Similarly, the people who live in [are useless].

Ngakho nanku okutshiwo nguThixo Wobukhosi: Njengoba nginike isigodo sevini phakathi kwezihlahla zegusu njengokhuni lomlilo, ngizabaphatha kanjalo abantu abahlala eJerusalema.

7 I will reject [IDM] them. [It will be as though] they have escaped from a fire, but there will still be a fire that will burn them up. And when I punish [EUP] them, you [people who remain alive] will know that I, Yahweh, [have done it].

Ngizamelana labo ngobuso bami. Lanxa sebephumile phakathi komlilo, umlilo usezabaqeda. Njalo lapho sengimelane labo ngobuso bami, lizakwazi ukuthi nginguThixo.

8 I will cause your country to become a wasteland because your people have not been loyal [to me. That is what I], Yahweh, the Lord, say.”

Ngizakwenza ilizwe libe lugwadule ngoba bebengathembekanga, kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi.”