UHoseya 8
1 “Faka icilongo ezindebeni zakho! Ukhozi lungaphezu kwendlu kaThixo ngoba abantu basephule isivumelwano sami bahlamukela lomthetho wami.
“To your mouth—a horn, As an eagle against the house of YHWH, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.
2 U-Israyeli uyakhalaza kimi esithi, ‘Oh Nkulunkulu wethu, siyakwamukela!’
To Me they cry, My God, we—Israel—have known You.
3 Kodwa u-Israyeli ukwalile okuhle; isitha sizaxotshana laye.
Israel has cast off good, an enemy pursues him.
4 Babeka amakhosi kungekho mvumo yami; bakhetha ababusi kungekho mvumo yami. Ngesiliva sabo langegolide, bazenzela izithombe zibe yikubhujiswa kwabo.
They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.
5 Lahla isithombe sakho sethole, wena Samariya! Ulaka lwami luyavutha ngawe. Koze kube nini bengelamandla okuhlambuluka na?
Your calf has cast off, O Samaria, My anger has burned against them; Until when are they not capable of purity?
6 Bavela ko-Israyeli! Ithole leli labunjwa yingcwethi; kalisuye Nkulunkulu. Lizachobozwa libe yizicucu, ithole lelo laseSamariya.
For even it [is] of Israel; a craftsman made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!
7 Bahlanyela umoya bavune isavunguzane. Ihlanga kalilasikhwebu; kaliyikuthela ifulawa. Aluba belingathela amabele, abezizweni kade bezawamimiliza.
For wind they sow, and a windstorm they reap, Stalk it has none—a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield—strangers swallow it up.
8 U-Israyeli useginyiwe; khathesi phakathi kwezizwe unjengento engelasizo.
Israel has been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.
9 Ngoba sebeye e-Asiriya njengobabhemi weganga entula yedwa. U-Efrayimi uzithengisile kuzithandwa.
For they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild donkey alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!
10 Lanxa bezithengisile phakathi kwezizwe, ngizabaqoqela ndawonye. Bazaqalisa ukucikizeka bengaphansi kwencindezelo yenkosi elamandla.
Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.
11 Lanxa u-Efrayimi wakha ama-alithare amanengi eminikelo yezono, asebe ngama-alithare okwenza izono.
Because Ephraim multiplied altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.
12 Ngabalobela izinto ezinengi zomthetho wami kodwa bona bazithatha njengento engaziwayo.
I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.
13 Banikela imihlatshelo njengezipho kimi babuye badle inyama yakhona, kodwa uThixo kathokozi ngabo. Khathesi usezakhumbula ukuxhwala kwabo abajezisele izono zabo: Bazabuyela eGibhithe.
The sacrifices of My offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, YHWH has not accepted them, Now He remembers their iniquity, And inspects their sin, They return [to] Egypt.
14 U-Israyeli usemkhohliwe uMenzi wakhe wakha izindlu zamakhosi; uJuda usevikele amadolobho amanengi ngezinqaba. Kodwa ngizathumela umlilo emadolobheni abo ozaqothula izinqaba zabo.”
And Israel forgets his Maker, and builds temples, And Judah has multiplied cities of defense, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it has consumed their palaces!”
