Jeremiah 5
1 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.
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 Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
Hata kama wanasema, 'Kama BWANA aishivyo,' wanaapa uongo.”
3 O LORD, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. 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 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the LORD’s way, nor the law 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 to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and 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 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
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 pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.
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 were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
Walikuwa farasi wanaotafuta kupandwa. Walitembea huku na huku wakitafutwa kupandwa. Kila mwanamume alimkaribia mke wa jirani yake.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Kwa hiyo kwa nini nisiwaadhibu - asema BWANA - na kwa nini nisijilipizie kisasi juu ya taifa kama hili?
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for 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 Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says 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. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.
na wamenikataa. Wanasema, ''Yeye si halisi. Maovu hayawezi kutupata, wala hatutaona upanga wala njaa.
13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to 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 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will 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 a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t 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 an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
Podo lao ni kaburi wazi. Wote ni wanajeshi.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.
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 “But even in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
Lakini hata katika siku hizo - asema BWANA - sikusudii kuwaharibu kabisa.
19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
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 this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Waambia haya watu wa nyumba ya Yakobo na yasikike katika Yuda. Waambie,
21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
'Sikilizeni hili, eny watu wapumbavu! Sanamu hazina matakwa; zina masikio lakini haziwawezi kusikia.
22 Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t 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 this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
Lakini hawa watu wana mioyo ya usumbufu. Hugeuka kuwa wapinzani na kuondoka.
24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the 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 away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
uovu wako umezuia haya yasitokee. Dhambi zako zimeyazuia mambo mema yasitokee.
26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They 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 cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
Kama tundu la mtego lijaavyo ndege, nyumba zao zimejaa uongo. Kwa hiyo wanakua na kutajirika.
28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.
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 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Kwa nini nisiwadhibu kwa sababu ya haya - asema BWANA - sitajilipizia kisasi juu ya taifa la namna hii?
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
Jambo la ajabu na la kuchukiza limetokea katika nchi hii.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
Mananbii wanatabiri kwa uongo, na makuhani wanatwala kwa msaada wa wa hao. Watu wangu wanapenda mambo ya hivyo, lakini mwisho kitatokea nini?
