Yeremiya 12
1 Bulijjo oba mutuukirivu, Ayi Mukama Katonda, bwe nkuleetera ensonga yange. Noolwekyo nnaaleeta ensonga yange gy’oli. Lwaki abakozi b’ebibi baba mu kwesiima? Lwaki abalimbalimba bonna baba mu bulamu obw’emirembe?
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 Wabasimba, emirandira ne ginywera, bakula ne baleeta ebibala. Tova ku mimwa gyabwe bulijjo wadde ng’oliwala n’emitima gyabwe.
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 Ate ng’ommanyi Ayi Mukama Katonda, ondaba era otegeera bye nkulowoozaako. Sika otwale abasajja bano ababi ng’endiga ezigenda okuttibwa. Bategekere olunaku lwe balisanjagirwako.
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 Ensi erikoma ddi okwonooneka, n’omuddo mu buli nnimiro okukala? Kubanga abo abali mu nsi bakozi ba bibi, ensolo n’ebinyonyi bizikiridde, kubanga abantu bagamba nti, “Katonda taalabe binaatutuukako.”
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 “Bw’oba owakana n’abaddusi b’embiro n’oggwaamu amaanyi oyinza otya okudduka n’embalaasi? Obanga mu nsi entereevu weesitadde n’ogwa bugwi, onoosobolayo otya mu nsiko y’oku Yoludaani?
[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 Ne baganda bo n’ab’omu nnyumba ya kitaawo nabo bennyini bakwefuukidde, beegasse ku abo abawowoggana nga bakulangiriza. Tobeesiga wadde nga bakwogerako bulungi.”
[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 “Njabulidde ennyumba yange, ne ndeka omugabo gwange; mpaddeyo abo emmeeme yange b’eyagala, mu mikono gy’abalabe baabwe.
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 Abantu bange be nalonda banfuukidde ng’empologoma eri mu kibira; empulugumira, noolwekyo mbakyaye.
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 Abantu bange be nalonda tebanfuukidde ng’ennyonyi erya ginnaazo ey’amabala, ebinyonyi ebirala ebirya binaabyo gye bizingiza ne bigirumba? Mugende mukuŋŋaanye ensolo zonna ez’omu nsiko muzireete zirye.
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 Abasumba bangi boonoonye ennimiro yange ey’emizabbibu, balinnyiridde ennimiro yange, ensi yange ennungi bagirese njereere.
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 Eyonooneddwa efuuse ddungu esigadde awo ng’enkaabirira. Ensi yonna efuuse matongo kubanga tewali muntu n’omu agifaako.
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 Abanyazi bazze batuuse ku nsozi zonna ez’omu ddungu, kubanga ekitala kya Mukama kijja kulya okuva ku nsonda emu ey’ensi okutuuka ku ndala, awataliiwo n’omu kuwona.
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 Basize eŋŋaano, ne bakungula amaggwa. Bakooyedde bwereere ne bataba na kebaggyamu. Bakwatiddwa ensonyi olw’ebibala bye bakunguddeyo, kubanga ebyo Mukama y’abikoze olw’obusungu bwe obungi.”
[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 Bw’ati bw’ayogera Mukama nti, “Ebikwata ku baliraanwa bange ababi nga bifa ku mugabo gwe nawa abantu bange Isirayiri okuba ogwabwe, laba ndibasiguukulula okuva mu nsi yaabwe, era ndiggya ennyumba ya Yuda mu bo.
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 Naye nga mmaze okubasiguukululamu, ndibakwatirwa ekisa ne mbakomyawo buli omu eri omugabo gwe mu nsi 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 Era nga bwe bayigiriza abantu bange okulayirira mu linnya lya Baali bwe batyo balikwatira ddala empisa z’abantu bange, okulayirira mu linnya lyange nga boogera nti, ‘Nga Mukama bw’ali omulamu,’ olwo balizimbibwa wakati mu bantu bange.
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 Naye eggwanga bwe litalissaayo mwoyo, ndirisiguukulula ne ndisaanyizaawo ddala,” bw’ayogera Mukama.
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.”
