Yeremia 5
1 “Mizɔ to Yerusalem ƒe kpɔdomewo, mitsa ŋku le teƒeteƒewo ne miabu eŋuti eye miatsa to eƒe ablɔwo dzi. Ne miate ŋu akpɔ ame ɖeka teti si awɔ nu anukwaretɔe eye wòati nyateƒe ko yome la, matsɔe ake du sia.
“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.
2 Togbɔ be wogblɔ be, ‘Meta Yehowa ƒe agbe’ hã la, wole nu tam alakpatɔe kokoko.”
Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Yehowa, ɖe wò ŋkuwo mele nyateƒe ŋu oa? ȃo wo gake womese veve o, ègbã wo nyanyanya gake womese veve o, ègbã wo nyanyanya gake wogbe ɖɔɖɔɖowɔwɔ. Wowɔ woƒe mo wòsẽ wu kpe eye wogbe dzimetɔtrɔ.
O Yahweh, 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.
4 Mebui be, “Ame siawo la, ame dahewo ko wonye. Wonye movitɔwo hã elabena womenya Yehowa ƒe mɔ kple woƒe Mawu la ƒe didiwo o.
Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.
5 Eya ta mayi ɖe woƒe kplɔlawo gbɔ, aƒo nu na wo; woawo ya nya Yehowa ƒe mɔ kple woƒe Mawu la ƒe didiwo godoo.” Gake woawo hã tsɔ lɔlɔ̃nu ɖeka ŋe kɔkuti la ɖa eye wotu kɔsasawo.
I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Eya ta dzata ado tso ave me ava dze wo dzi, amegaxi ado tso gbegbe avuvu wo, eye lãkle ava de xa ɖe woƒe duwo ƒe gbɔto, be wòavuvu ame si ake atse ado go la ʋayaʋaya, elabena woƒe aglãdzedze lolo, eye woƒe megbededewo sɔ gbɔ.
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.
7 “Nu ka ta matsɔe ake mi ɖo? Mia viwo gbem, eye wota mawu siwo menye mawu o togbɔ be mekpɔ woƒe hiahiãwo katã gbɔ na wo hã la, wogayi ɖawɔ ahasi, eye woƒo ta kpli ɖe gboloxɔwo me.
“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.
8 Woɖi ƒo nyuie abe sɔtsu siwo le asi yɔm la ene, ɖe sia ɖe le gbe tem ɖe ame bubu srɔ̃ ŋu.
They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Ɖe mele be mahe to na wo ɖe esia ta oa? Ɖe nyemabia hlɔ̃ dukɔ sia tɔgbi oa?” Yehowae gblɔe.
Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Mige ɖe eƒe waingblewo me eye mialã woƒe wainkawo. Ke migagblẽ wo gbidigbidi o. Milã alɔwo elabena dukɔ sia menye Yehowa tɔ o.
“Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.
11 Israel kple Yuda ƒe aƒewo meto nyateƒe nam kura o.” Yehowae gblɔe.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
12 Woda alakpa tso Yehowa ŋu hegblɔ bena, “Mawɔ naneke o! Vɔ̃ aɖeke mawɔ mí o eye míakpɔ dɔwuame alo yi ƒe ŋkume gbeɖe o.
They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.
13 Nyagblɔɖilawo la, ya ko wonye eye nya la mele wo me o, eya ta, na woawɔ nu si wogblɔ la na wo.”
The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”
14 Eya ta ale Yehowa, Dziƒoʋakɔwo ƒe Mawu la gblɔe nye esi: “Esi dukɔ la gblɔ nya siawo ta la, mawɔ nye nya la wòazu dzo bibi anɔ wò nu me eye dukɔ la anye nake si wòabi.”
Therefore Yahweh, 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.
15 Yehowa be, “O Israel ƒe aƒe, mele dukɔ aɖe kplɔ ge atso didiƒe ava ƒo ɖe dziwò, blemadukɔ si li tegbee, dukɔ si ƒe gbegbɔgblɔ mènya o, eye mèse egɔme hã o.
Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “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.
16 Woƒe daku le abe yɔdo si le nuvo la ene. Wo katã wonye aʋawɔla kalẽtɔwo.
Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
17 Woava ɖu wò agblemenukuwo kple wò nuɖuɖu, woaɖu viwò ŋutsuwo kple viwò nyɔnuwo. Woaɖu wò alẽhawo kple nyihawo, eye woaɖu wò waintsetsewo kple gbotiwo. Woatsɔ yi agblẽ wò du sesẽ siwo ŋu nèle ŋu ɖom ɖo.”
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.
18 Yehowa be, “Ke le ɣe ma ɣi hã la, nyematsrɔ̃ mi gbidigbidi o.
“But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you.
19 Ale be ne amewo bia be, ‘Nu ka ta Yehowa, míaƒe Mawu la wɔ esiawo ɖe mía ŋu hã?’ la, miagblɔ na wo be, ‘Esi miegbem hesubɔ dutamawuwo le wò ŋutɔ wò anyigba dzi ta la, azɔ la mianye kluviwo na dutatɔwo le anyigba si menye mia tɔ o la dzi.’
It will happen when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh 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.’
20 “Ɖe gbeƒã nya sia na Yakob ƒe aƒe la eye nàdo kpo le Yuda.
“Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Mise nya sia, mi bometsilawo kple susumanɔsitɔwo, ame siwo ŋku li na, gake womekpɔa nu o, ame siwo to li na, gake womesea nu o.’
‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
22 Yehowa be, ‘Ɖe mele be miavɔ̃m oa? Mewɔ ke be wòado liƒo na atsiaƒu, wòanye dɛ mavɔ si nu mate ŋu atso o. Ƒutsotsoewo aŋe aƒo ɖe eŋu gake womate ŋui o. Woadze agbo gake womate ŋui o. Woadze agbo gake womate ŋu agbɔ liƒoa ŋu o.
Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh; ‘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.’
23 Ke dukɔ sia la, dzi sesẽ, dzeaglãe li na wo. Wodze ɖe aga, eye wotra mɔ.’
“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
24 Womegblɔna na wo nɔewo be, ‘Mina míavɔ̃ Yehowa, míaƒe Mawu la, ame si naa adametsi kple kelemetsi dzana na mí le edzaɣi eye wòkana ɖe nuŋeɣi ƒe kɔsiɖawo dzi na mí’ la o.
They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Miaƒe nu tovowo wɔwɔe xe mɔ na nu siawo katã, eye miaƒe nu vɔ̃wo te nu nyuiwo mi.
“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 “Ame vɔ̃ɖiwo le nye dukɔ me, ame siwo de xa abe ale si ŋutsu siwo trea mɔ na xeviwo wɔnɛ ene eye wole abe ŋutsu siwo trea mɔ na amewo ene.
For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
27 Abe ale si xeviwo yɔa xadzanu fũu ene la, nenema woƒe aƒewo yɔ taŋ kple beble. Ale wova zu kesinɔtɔwo kple ŋusẽtɔwo,
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
28 eye woda ami hezrɔ̃ lãlãlã. Seɖoƒe meli na woƒe nu tovowo wɔwɔ o, womexɔa nya ɖe tsyɔ̃eviwo nu be woaɖu dzi o, eye womeʋlia ame dahewo ƒe ablɔɖevinyenye ta o.”
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.
29 Yehowa be, “Ɖe nyemahe to na wo le esia ta oa? Ɖe nyemabia hlɔ̃ dukɔ sia tɔgbi oa?
“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 “Ŋɔdzinu kple dzigbãnu aɖe dzɔ le anyigba dzi.
“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
31 Nyagblɔɖilawo gblɔ aʋatsonyawo ɖi. Nunɔlawo le nuwo wɔm le woawo ŋutɔ ƒe ŋusẽ me eye wòdze nye dukɔ ŋu alea. Ke nu ka nàwɔ le nuwuwu?”
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?
