< Jeremi 12 >

1 Oh Yawe, ozalaka tango nyonso sembo; mpe ngai nakokoka kosamba na Yo te. Nzokande nalingi kotuna Yo mwa mituna na tina na oyo etali bosembo na Yo. Mpo na nini misala ya bato mabe ekendaka liboso? Mpo na nini bato oyo batosaka Yo te bazalaka na bomoi ya kimia?
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?
2 Olonaki bango mpe bazwi misisa; bazali kokola mpe kobota mbuma. Ozali tango nyonso pene ya minoko na bango, kasi mosika ya mitema na bango.
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.
3 Nzokande, oh Yawe, oyebi ngai, omonaka ngai mpe oyebi makanisi ya motema na ngai mpo na Yo. Tindika bango lokola bameme oyo babongisi mpo na koboma! Bongisa bango mpo na mokolo ya kufa.
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!
4 Kino tango nini mokili ekowumela na kolela mpe matiti ya bilanga nyonso ekowumela ya kokawuka? Banyama mpe bandeke esili kokufa mpo ete bavandi ya mokili bazali mabe. Balobaka: « Yawe akoyeba te makambo oyo ekokomela biso. »
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)!”
5 Soki ozali kosala momekano ya kokima mbangu elongo na bato oyo bazali kotambola na makolo, mpe bango bazali komelisa yo pema, ndenge nini okoki komekana na bato oyo batambolaka likolo ya bampunda? Soki ozali komitungisa na mokili oyo ezali na kimia, ekozala boni liboso ya mpela ya ebale Yordani?
[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]?
6 Pamba te ezala bandeko na yo mpe bato ya libota na yo moko bateki yo, bazali koganga makasi mpo na kotelemela yo. Kotiela bango motema te, ata tango bazali kobimisa maloba kitoko mpo na yo.
[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!
7 Nakobosana libota na ngai, nakosundola libula na ngai, nakokaba molingami na ngai na maboko ya banguna na ye.
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.
8 Libula na ngai ekomi na miso na ngai lokola nkosi ya zamba: ezali kogangela ngai; yango wana nayini yango.
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.
9 Boni, libula na ngai ekomi na miso na ngai lokola ndeke oyo eliaka misuni, bongo ebebi na makila, mpo ete bandeke mosusu oyo eliaka misuni eya kozingela mpe kobundisa yango? Bokende kosangisa banyama nyonso ya zamba mpe bobengisa yango mpo ete eya kolia nyama!
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].
10 Babateli ebele ya bibwele babebisi elanga na ngai ya vino, banyati-nyati elanga na ngai, babongoli elanga na ngai ya kitoko mabele ya kokawuka.
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.
11 Bakomisi yango esobe, etikali pamba na miso na ngai, ekomi eloko ya mawa. Mokili mobimba ebebisami, pamba te moto moko te azali lisusu komema yango na motema.
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.
12 Babebisi bakobimela na likolo ya bangomba nyonso ya esobe, pamba te mopanga ya Yawe ekoboma mokili mobimba; moto moko te akozala na kimia.
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.
13 Bakolona ble, kasi bakobuka banzube; bakobimisa mitoki na mosala, kasi bakozwa litomba ya malonga te. Boye, boyokela mbuma ya bilanga na bino soni, mpo na kanda makasi ya Yawe.
[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].”
14 Tala liloba oyo Yawe alobi: « Nakobengana bato mabe oyo bavandaka zingazinga ya ekolo na Ngai, oyo bazali kobundisa libula oyo napesaki bato na Ngai, Isalaele, mpe nakolongola ekolo ya Yuda kati na bango.
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.
15 Kasi sima na Ngai kobengana bango, nakoyokela bango lisusu mawa mpe nakozongisa moko na moko kati na libula na ye mpe kati na mokili na ye.
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.
16 Mpe soki bayekoli malamu bizaleli ya bato na Ngai mpe balapi ndayi na Kombo na Ngai, na maloba oyo: ‹ Na Kombo na Yawe, › ndenge balakisaki bato na Ngai kolapa ndayi na kombo ya Bala, nakopesa bango esika kati na bato na Ngai.
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.
17 Kasi ekolo oyo ekoyoka te, nakobengana bango nyonso mpe nakobebisa bango, » elobi Yawe.
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.”

< Jeremi 12 >