Isaiah 17
1 The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
Umthwalo weDamaseko. Khangela, iDamaseko izasuswa, ingabi ngumuzi, kodwa ibe lunxiwa oludilikileyo.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
Imizi yeAroweri izatshiywa, ibe ngeyemihlambi elala phansi, njalo kungabi lomethusi.
3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Lenqaba izaphela koEfrayimi, lombuso weDamaseko, lensali yeSiriya; bazakuba njengodumo lwabantwana bakoIsrayeli, itsho iNkosi yamabandla.
4 “It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
Kuzakuthi-ke ngalolosuku udumo lukaJakobe lwehliselwe phansi, lokuzimuka kwenyama yakhe kucakiswe.
5 It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.
Njalo kube njengomvuni evuna amabele amiyo, lengalo yakhe iqume izikhwebu; yebo, kube njengomuntu edobha izikhwebu esigodini seRefayimi.
6 Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree,” says the LORD, the God of Israel.
Kodwa umkhothozo uzasala kukho, njengokunyikinyeka kwesihlahla somhlwathi, imihlwathi emibili loba emithathu engqongeni yogatsha oluphezulu, emine loba emihlanu engatsheni zaso ezithelayo, itsho iNkosi uNkulunkulu kaIsrayeli.
7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
Ngalolosuku umuntu uzajolozela kuMenzi wakhe, lamehlo akhe akhangele koNgcwele kaIsrayeli.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the incense altars.
Njalo kayikujolozela emalathini, umsebenzi wezandla zakhe; njalo kayikukhangela kulokho iminwe yakhe ekwenzileyo, loba izixuku loba amalathi elanga.
9 In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.
Ngalolosuku imizi yabo eqinileyo izakuba njengegusu elideliweyo lengqonga yogatsha abaludelileyo ngenxa yabantwana bakoIsrayeli; njalo kuzakuba yincithakalo.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
Ngoba umkhohliwe uNkulunkulu wosindiso lwakho, kawukhumbulanga idwala lamandla akho; ngenxa yalokho uzahlanyela izithombo ezinhle, uyihlanyele ngamahlumela angejwayelekanga.
11 In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Ngosuku lokuhlanyela kwakho uzakwenza kuhlume, lekuseni wenze inhlanyelo yakho ikhuphe impoko; kodwa isivuno sizakuba yinqumbi ngosuku lomkhuhlane lobuhlungu obungelaphekiyo.
12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!
Yeka ukuhlokoma kwabantu abanengi abahlokoma njengokuhlokoma kwezinlwandle, lokuduma kwezizwe eziduma njengomdumo wamanzi amanengi!
13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
Izizwe ziduma njengomdumo wamanzi amanengi, kodwa uzazikhuza ukuze zibalekele khatshana, zixotshwe njengamakhoba ezintaba phambi komoya, lanjengokugiqikayo phambi kwesiphepho.
14 At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
Ngesikhathi sokuhlwa, khangela-ke, ukuthuthumela, kungakasi kasekho. Yiso isabelo sabasiphangayo lenkatho yabasihlaselayo.
