Jeremiah 29
1 After King Jehoiachin, his mother, his palace officials, other officials in Judah, and all the various kinds of craftsmen [DOU] had been exiled to Babylon, I wrote a letter to the elders, the priests, the prophets and all the other people who had been taken from Jerusalem to Babylon by [soldiers of] Nebuchadnezzar.
Yei ne krataa mu nsɛm a odiyifoɔ Yeremia twerɛ firii Yerusalem kɔmaa nnommumfoɔ no mu mpanimfoɔ nkaeɛ, asɔfoɔ, adiyifoɔ ne nnipa a wɔaka nyinaa a Nebukadnessar afa wɔn nnommum afiri Yerusalem akɔ Babilonia.
(Yei yɛ ɛberɛ a ɔhene Yehoiakin ne ɔhemmaa no, asɛnniiɛ adwumayɛfoɔ, Yuda ne Yerusalem ntuanofoɔ, adwumfoɔ ahodoɔ nyinaa afiri Yerusalem akɔ nnommumfa mu no akyi.)
3 [I gave] the letter to Elasah the son of Shaphan, and to Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, when they were about to go to Babylon to be ambassadors from King Zedekiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. This is what I wrote in the letter:
Ɔde krataa no hyɛɛ Safan babarima Elasa ne Hilkia babarima Gemaria nsa, wɔn na Yudahene Sedekia somaa wɔn kɔɔ Ɔhene Nebukadnessar nkyɛn wɔ Babilonia. Krataa no mu nsɛm nie:
4 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says to all you people who were captured [here] in Jerusalem and taken [there] to Babylon:
Yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade, Israel Onyankopɔn, ka kyerɛ wɔn a mema wɔfaa wɔn nnommum firi Yerusalem kɔɔ Babilonia no nyinaa:
5 “Build houses [there], and plan to stay there [because you will be there for many years]. Plant gardens, and eat the food that is produced in the gardens.
“Monsisi afie, na momfa mmɔ atenaseɛ; monyɛ nturo na monni mu aba.
6 Get married and have children. Then [when they grow up], choose wives for your sons, and husbands for your daughters, in order that they [also] may have children. [In that way], the number of you people will increase, not decrease.
Monwareware, na monwowo mmammarima ne mmammaa. Monhwehwɛ yerenom mma mo mmammarima na momfa mo mmammaa nso mma awadeɛ, na wɔn nso nwowo mmammarima ne mmammaa. Monnɔre wɔ hɔ na mo so ante.
7 Also, do things that will cause things to go well [for the other people there] in the city where I sent you. Pray that things will go well for [the people in] that city, because if things go well for them, things will go well for you, [also].”
Afei, monhwehwɛ kuropɔn a mema wɔtuu mo kɔtenaa so no asomdwoeɛ ne yiedie. Mommɔ Awurade mpaeɛ mma no, ɛfiri sɛ ne yiedie mu na mo nso mobɛdi yie.”
8 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israeli people [worship], says: “There are [false] prophets and fortune-tellers among you. Do not allow them to deceive you. Do not pay attention to [them when they tell you] their dreams,
Aane, yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade, Israel Onyankopɔn seɛ: “Mommma adiyifoɔ ne nkɔmhyɛfoɔ a wɔwɔ mo mu no nnaadaa mo. Monntie wɔn adaeɛ a mohyɛ wɔn nkuran ma wɔsoso no.
9 because they are telling you lies, saying that [MTY] [I have given them the messages that they are telling you]. But, I have not appointed them.”
Wɔhyɛ nkɔntorɔ wɔ me din mu. Mensomaa wɔn,” Awurade na ɔseɛ.
10 This is [also] what Yahweh says: “After you [and your children] have been in Babylon for seventy years, I will help you, and do for you the things that I promised, and I will enable you to return here [to Jerusalem].
Deɛ Awurade seɛ nie: “Sɛ mosom Babilonia mfeɛ aduɔson a, mɛba abɛhwɛ mo na mɛma mʼadom mu bɔhyɛ sɛ mede mo bɛba ha bio no aba mu.
11 I, Yahweh, know what I have planned for you. I am planning to cause things to go well for you, not to cause you to experience disasters. I am planning to give you many things that you confidently expect to receive in the future.
Menim nhyehyɛeɛ a mewɔ ma mo,” Awurade na ɔseɛ, “Nhyehyɛeɛ a ɛde mo bɛsi yie na ɛrenha mo, nhyehyɛeɛ a ɛbɛma mo anidasoɔ ne awieeɛ pa.
12 At that time, when you pray, I will heed you.
Afei mobɛfrɛ me na moaba abɛbɔ me mpaeɛ, na mɛtie mo.
13 If you earnestly desire for me [to bless you], you will experience me [blessing you].
Mobɛhwehwɛ me na mobɛhunu me, sɛ mode mo akoma nyinaa hwehwɛ me dea.
14 I will make my help available to you [IDM]. I will cause you to no longer be slaves [in Babylon]. I will gather you from all the nations to which I have exiled you, and I will bring you back [here to your own land], to the place from which you were taken.”
Mobɛhunu me,” Awurade na ɔseɛ, “na mɛyi mo afiri nkoasom mu de mo asane aba. Mɛboaboa mo ano afiri amanaman ne beaeɛ a mepamoo mo kɔɔ so no nyinaa,” Awurade na ɔseɛ, “na mede mo bɛsane aba baabi a metuu mo firi kɔɔ nnommum mu no bio.”
15 [Some of] you say that Yahweh has appointed prophets for you [there] in Babylon.
Mobɛka sɛ, “Awurade ama yɛn adiyifoɔ wɔ Babilonia,”
16 But this is what Yahweh says about the king who rules [here] in Jerusalem, and about all the other people who are [still] living here—your relatives who were not taken to Babylon with you.
nanso, sei na Awurade ka fa ɔhene a ɔte Dawid ahennwa so ne nnipa a wɔaka wɔ kuropɔn no mu nyinaa, mo manfoɔ a wɔne mo ankɔ nnommumfa mu no,
17 The Commander of the armies of angels says this: “I will cause them to experience wars and famines and diseases. I will cause them to become like [SIM] bad figs that are very rotten, with the result that no one can eat them.
aane, yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade seɛ: “Mɛma akofena, ɛkɔm ne yaredɔm aba wɔn so, na wɔayɛ sɛ borɔdɔma a asɛeɛ enti wɔntumi nni.
18 I will not stop causing them to experience wars and famines and diseases. And I will scatter them all around the world. In every country where I (force them to be taken/exile them), I will cause them to be people whom [others] curse and be horrified about and make fun of [DOU].
Mede akofena, ɛkɔm ne yaredɔm bɛti wɔn, na mɛyɛ wɔn atantanneɛ ama ahennie a ɛwɔ asase no so nyinaa, ne nnome ne ahodwiredeɛ, fɛdideɛ ne animtiabudeɛ wɔ amanaman a mepamoo wɔn kɔɔ so no mu.
19 [That will happen] because they have refused to pay attention to my messages, messages that I gave to the prophets whom I sent to them. And you [who have been exiled to Babylon] have not paid attention to them, [either].” [That is what] Yahweh says.
Ɛfiri sɛ, wɔantie me nsɛm,” sei na Awurade seɛ, “nsɛm a mede somaa mʼasomfoɔ adiyifoɔ mpɛn bebree baa mo nkyɛn. Na mo nnommumfoɔ nso antie,” Awurade na ɔseɛ.
20 [Therefore], you people who have been (exiled/forced to go) from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to this message from Yahweh.
Afei montie Awurade asɛm, mo nnommumfoɔ a mama mo afiri Yerusalem akɔ Babilonia no nyinaa.
21 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says about Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and about Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are telling lies to you, saying that they are giving messages [MTY] from him: “They will be seized and taken to [MTY] King Nebuchadnezzar, who will cause them to be executed while you are watching.
Yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade, Israel Onyankopɔn ka fa Kolaia babarima Ahab ne Maaseia babarima Sedekia a wɔde me din rehyɛ mo nkɔmtorɔ no ho nie: “Mede wɔn bɛhyɛ Babiloniahene Nebukadnessar nsa, na wakum wɔn wɔ mo anim.
22 Because of [what will happen to] them, all you people who have been taken from Judah to Babylon will say this when they curse someone: ‘I hope/wish that Yahweh will do to you the same thing that he did to Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the King of Babylon caused to be [killed by being] burned in a fire.’
Esiane wɔn enti, Yuda nnommumfoɔ a wɔwɔ Babilonia nyinaa de saa nnome yi bɛdome sɛ: ‘Awurade nyɛ wo sɛ, Sedekia ne Ahab a Babiloniahene hyee wɔn wɔ ogya mu no.’
23 They have done terrible things to [my] Israeli people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken lies, saying that they were messages [MTY] from me. They have said things that I did not tell them to say, and I, Yahweh, have heard them [say those things].”
Na wɔayɛ akyiwadeɛ a ɛboro so wɔ Israel: wɔne wɔn yɔnkonom yerenom adeda de asɛe awadeɛ, na wɔde me din adi atorɔ a mennka nkyerɛɛ wɔn sɛ wɔnyɛ. Menim na medi ho adanseɛ,” Awurade na ɔseɛ.
24 [Yahweh told me to] send this message to Shemaiah, a man from Nehelam [town who was living in Babylon]:
Ka kyerɛ Nehelamni Semaia sɛ,
25 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says: “You wrote a letter that no one told you to write. You sent it to Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, and [you sent copies] to the other priests and all the [other] people here in Jerusalem. [This is what] you wrote to him:
“Yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade, Israel Onyankopɔn seɛ: Watwerɛ krataa wɔ wo din mu akɔma nnipa a wɔwɔ Yerusalem nyinaa, ɔsɔfoɔ Maaseia babarima Sefania, ne asɔfoɔ a aka no nyinaa. Woka kyerɛɛ Sefania sɛ,
26 [Zephaniah], Yahweh has appointed you to be the priest instead of Jehoiada, to supervise those who work in the temple. Anyone who acts like a crazy man and who claims that he is a prophet, you should put his arms and legs and head into (stocks/a wooden frame [so that he cannot move)].
‘Awurade ahyɛ wo ɔsɔfoɔ asi Yehoiada anan mu sɛ hwɛ Awurade efie no so; Ɛsɛ sɛ wode nkɔnsɔnkɔnsɔn ne dadeɛ kɔnnua gu obiara a wabɔ dam na ɔyɛ ne ho sɛ odiyifoɔ.
27 So why have you not done anything to stop Jeremiah, the man from Anathoth [town], who [pretends that he] is a prophet among you?
Afei adɛn enti na wontwi Yeremia a ɔfiri Anatot a ɔyɛ ne ho sɛ odiyifoɔ wɔ mo mu no anim?
28 He sent a letter to us [who are here] in Babylon, saying that [we will be here for] a long time. He said that [therefore] we should build houses and plan to stay here, and plant gardens, and eat the food that is produced in the gardens.”
Ɔde saa nkra yi abrɛ yɛn wɔ Babilonia: Ɛbɛkyɛ. Ɛno enti monsisi afie mfa mmɔ atenaseɛ; monyɛ nturo na monni emu aba.’”
29 [But when] Zephaniah the priest [received] the letter from you, he [brought it to me and] read it to me.
Ɔsɔfoɔ Sefania kenkanee krataa no kyerɛɛ odiyifoɔ Yeremia.
30 Then Yahweh gave me this message:
Na Awurade asɛm baa Yeremia nkyɛn sɛ,
31 “Send this message to all the people [from Judah] who are there [in Babylon]. Say that this is what Yahweh says about Shemaiah, the man from Nehelam: ‘I did not appoint him, but he has deceived you and caused you to believe the lies that he prophesied.
“Fa saa nkra yi kɔma nnommumfoɔ no nyinaa sɛ, ‘Yei ne deɛ Awurade ka fa Nehelamni Semaia ho: Esiane sɛ wahyɛ mo nkɔm a mpo mansoma no, na wama moagye atorɔ adi enti,
32 So, I will punish him and his family. He has incited you to rebel against me. Because of that, all of his descendants will soon die. I will do [many] good things for [you], my people, but he and his descendants will not see those things, [because they will be dead]. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it!’”
deɛ Awurade seɛ nie: Nokorɛm, mɛtwe Nehelamni Semaia ne nʼasefoɔ aso. Ɔrennya obiara a ɔbɛka wɔ saa nkurɔfoɔ yi mu, na ɔrenhunu nneɛma pa a mɛyɛ ama me nkurɔfoɔ, ɛfiri sɛ waka atuateɛ nsɛm atia me,’” Awurade na ɔseɛ.
