Jeremiah 12
1 Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy [about what is happening to me], you [always] act justly/fairly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing [that I do not understand]: Why are wicked people [often] very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest/wicked people?
Ao Awurade, sɛ mede asɛm to wʼanim ɛberɛ biara a mehunu sɛ wobu atɛntenenee. Ɛno enti, mepɛ sɛ mene wo bɛkasa afa wʼatɛntenenee ho: Adɛn enti na amumuyɛfoɔ ɛkwan si wɔn yie? Adɛn enti na wɔn a wɔnni gyidie ho dwo wɔn?
2 You allow them to prosper like [MET] trees that grow tall and bear [a lot of] fruit. They [always] say [MTY] good things about you, but their hearts are [really] far from you.
Woadua wɔn, na wɔagye nhini; wɔnyinyini na wɔso aba. Wɔbɔ wo din ɛberɛ biara nanso wɔn akoma mmɛn wo.
3 But Yahweh, as for me, you know what is in my inner being. You see what I [do] and you are able to know what I am thinking. So drag away those [wicked] people, like [people drag away] sheep that they are going to butcher. Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!
Nanso, wonim me, Ao Awurade; wohunu me, na wosɔ mʼadwene a mewɔ wɔ wo ho hwɛ. Twe wɔn kɔ sɛ nnwan a wɔrekɔkum wɔn! Yi wɔn si nkyɛn ma okum da!
4 This land is [RHQ] becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. The wild animals and the birds have [all] died because the people are [very] wicked. [All that has happened] because the people have said, “Yahweh does not know what we are doing (OR, what will happen to us)!”
Asase no ntwɛn nkɔsi da bɛn? Prama so ɛserɛ no mpo adwan. Esiane sɛ wɔn a wɔte so no yɛ amumuyɛfoɔ enti mmoa ne nnomaa a wɔwɔ so awuwu. Na nnipa no da so ka sɛ, “Ɔrenhunu deɛ ɛba yɛn so.”
5 [Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me], [“It is as though] you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you [stumble and] fall when you are running on open/bare/smooth ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thornbushes near the Jordan [River]?
“Sɛ wo ne mmarima tu mmirika na sɛ wɔma wo abrɛ a, ɛbɛyɛ dɛn na wo ne apɔnkɔ asi mmirikakan? Sɛ wosunti wɔ asase petee so a, ɛnneɛ wobɛyɛ dɛn wɔ Yordan ho nkyɛkyerɛ mu?
6 [Already] your brothers and [other members of] your own family oppose you. They (plot against/plan to do evil things to) you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them!
Wo nuammarima, wʼankasa abusuafoɔ, wɔn mpo ayi wo ama; wɔteam denden tia wo. Sɛ mpo wɔka wo ho asɛm pa a, mfa wo ho nto wɔn so.
7 I have abandoned my [Israeli] people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the Israeli people, whom I love.
“Magya me nkurɔfoɔ, mato mʼagyapadeɛ agu; mede deɛ medɔ noɔ no bɛhyɛ nʼatamfoɔ nsa.
8 My people have become to me like [SIM] a lion in the forest. [It is as though] they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them.
Mʼagyapadeɛ ayɛ me sɛ gyata a ɔwɔ kwaeɛm. Ɔbobɔ mu gu me so; ɛno enti metane no.
9 My chosen people have [RHQ] become like speckled hawks that are surrounded by vultures [waiting to eat their flesh after they are dead]. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat [the flesh of their corpses].
Mʼagyapadeɛ ayɛ sɛ anomaa a nkekaeɛ sisi ne ho a ɔkyere mmoa, nanso, nnomaa a wɔkyere mmoa atwa ne ho ahyia resosɔ no. Monkɔboaboa nkekaboa nyinaa ano. Momfa wɔn mmra na wɔnkum wɔn.
10 Many rulers [from other countries have come with their armies and] devastated/destroyed my people [whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his] vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives.
Nnwanhwɛfoɔ bebree bɛsɛe me bobeturo, na wɔatiatia me mfuo so; wɔbɛdane me mfuo fɛfɛ no ayɛ no asase wesee a ada mpan.
11 They have caused it to become completely empty; [it is as though] I hear the land crying sadly/mournfully. The whole land is desolate, and no one (worries about/pays any attention to) it.
Ɛbɛyɛ asase a ada mpan a awo wesee na ɛda hɔ kwa wɔ mʼanim; asase no nyinaa bɛda mpan ɛfiri sɛ obiara nni hɔ a ɔhwɛ soɔ.
12 The soldiers [of our enemies] have marched across all the barren hilltops. But [I], Yahweh, am using those armies [MTY] to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape.
Wɔ nkokoɔ wesee a ɛwɔ anweatam no nyinaa so no, asɛefoɔ bɛba abɛgu so bebree, Awurade akofena bɛkunkum wɔn afiri asase ano de akɔsi ano nohoa; obiara remfa ne ho nni.
13 [It is as though] my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired [because of much hard work], but they have gained nothing [from all that work]. They will be very disappointed because their harvests [will be very small], [and that will happen] because [I], Yahweh, am extremely angry [with them].”
Wɔbɛdua atokoɔ, nso wɔbɛtwa nkasɛɛ; wɔbɛbrɛ wɔn ho, nanso wɔrennya hwee. Enti ma wʼani nwu wɔ wo otwa berɛ ho. Awurade abufuhyeɛ nti.”
14 This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “[I will punish] the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israeli people, and I will force them to leave their own land. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their land, also.
Deɛ Awurade seɛ nie: “Na amumuyɛfoɔ a wɔfa agyapadeɛ a mede maa me nkurɔfoɔ Israelfoɔ no deɛ, mɛtu wɔn afiri wɔn nsase so na mɛtu Yudafie afiri wɔn mu.
15 But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each [clan] will come back to its own land.
Na sɛ metu wɔn wie a, mɛhunu wɔn mmɔbɔ bio, na mede wɔn mu biara bɛba nʼagyapadeɛ ne nʼasase so.
16 And if the people [of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel] learn the [religious] customs of my people, and if they learn that I [am listening] when they solemnly promise that they will do something good, like they taught my people to believe that [their god] Baal [was listening] when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people.
Na sɛ wɔsua me nkurɔfoɔ akwan yie na wɔbɔ me din ka ntam sɛ, ‘Nokorɛm sɛ Awurade te ase yi’ a, ɛwom sɛ mmerɛ bi wɔkyerɛɛ me nkurɔfoɔ sɛdeɛ wɔde Baal kaa ntam deɛ, nanso wɔn ase bɛtim wɔ me nkurɔfoɔ mu.
17 But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
Nanso, sɛ ɔman bi antie a, mɛtu nʼase, na masɛe no korakora,” Awurade na ɔseɛ.
