U-Isaya 59
1 Ngeqiniso ingalo kaThixo kayimfitshane ukuba isindise, lendlebe yakhe kayibuthundu ukuba izwe.
Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear.
2 Kodwa ububi benu sebulahlukanise loNkulunkulu wenu; lezono zenu sezisithe ubuso bakhe kini ukuze angezwa.
But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear.
3 Ngoba izandla zenu zingcolisiwe ngegazi, leminwe yenu ingcoliswe yibubi. Izindebe zenu zikhulume amanga lolimi lwenu luhlebeza izinto ezimbi.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity.
4 Kakho odinga ukwahlulela okuhle, kakho okhuluma ecaleni lakhe ngobuqotho. Bathembe ukuphika ngeze bekhuluma amanga; bemula uhlupho, bazale ububi.
There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.
5 Bachamisela amaqanda ezinhlangwana, beluke ubulembu besayobe. Langabe ngubani odla amaqanda azo uzakufa, njalo nxa elinye lawo lichanyiselwe kuphuma ibululu.
They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs, shall die: and that which is brought out, shall be hatched into a basilisk.
6 Ubulembu babo kabusizi ekugqokeni; abangeke bazimboze ngabakwenzayo. Izenzo zabo yizenzo ezimbi, izenzo zodlakela zisezandleni zabo.
Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are unprofitable works, and the work of iniquity is in their hands.
7 Inyawo zabo zigijimela ukona; bayaphangisa ukuchitha igazi elimsulwa. Imicabango yabo yimicabango emibi; ukuchitha lokubhubhisa kubonakalisa izindlela zabo.
Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts: wasting and destruction are in their ways.
8 Indlela yokuthula kabayazi; akukho kulunga ezindleleni zabo. Sebenze zaba yimigwaqo ezombelezayo, kakho ohamba ngazo ozakwazi ukuthula.
They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps: their paths are become crooked to them, every one that treadeth in them, knoweth no peace.
9 Ngakho-ke ukwahlulela okuhle kukhatshana lathi, lokulunga akufiki kithi. Sidinga ukukhanya, kodwa kulobumnyama kuphela; sidinga ukucazimula, kodwa sihamba emathunzini amnyama.
Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice shall not overtake us. We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness, and we have walked in the dark.
10 Njengeziphofu siphumputha silandela umduli, siphumputhe indlela yethu njengabantu abangelamehlo. Sikhubeka emini ingathi kukusihlwa; kwabalamandla, sinjengabafileyo.
We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places as dead men.
11 Sonke siyahwabha njengamabhele, sibubule ngosizi njengamajuba. Sidinga ukwahlulela okuhle, kodwa kasikutholi; sidinga ukuhlengwa, kodwa kukhatshana.
We shall roar all of us like bears, and shall lament as mournful doves. We have looked for judgment, and there is none: for salvation, and it is far from us.
12 Ngoba ukona kwethu kuwe kunengi, lezono zethu zifakaza okubi ngathi. Ukona kwethu kuhlezi kulathi; siyabuvuma ububi bethu,
For our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us: for our wicked doings are with us, and we have known our iniquities:
13 ukuhlamuka lokungathembeki kuThixo, ukufulathela uNkulunkulu wethu, ukukhuthaza uncindezelo lomvukela, ukukhuluma amanga esiwacabange ngezinhliziyo zethu.
In sinning and lying against the Lord: and we have turned away so that we went not after our God, but spoke calumny and transgression: we have conceived, and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood.
14 Ngakho ukwahlulela okuhle kufuqelwa emuva, ukulunga kume khatshana; iqiniso likhubekile ezindleleni, ubuqotho bungeke bungene.
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice hath stood far off: because truth bath fallen down in the street, and equity could not come in.
15 Iqiniso kalitholwa ndawo; oxwaya ububi uyahlaselwa. UThixo wakhangela wadaniswa yikuswelakala kokwahlulela okuhle.
And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, because there is no judgment.
16 Wabona ukuthi kwakungelamuntu, wanengwa yikuthi kakho owayengalamula; ngakho waletha ukukhululwa ngamandla akhe, ukulunga kwakhe kwamqinisa.
And he saw that there is not a man: and he stood astonished, because there is none to oppose himself: and his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice supported him.
17 Wagqoka ukulunga njengesivikelo sakhe sasesifubeni, lengowane yensindiso ekhanda lakhe; wagqoka izembatho zokuphindisela njalo wazigoqela ngokutshiseka njengokuzigoqela ngengubo.
He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak.
18 Uzaphindisela ulaka ezitheni zakhe, kusiya ngalokho abakwenzileyo; lokujeziswa kwabamelana laye; izihlenge uzaziphindisela ngemfanelo yazo.
As unto revenge, as it were to repay wrath to his adversaries, and a reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands.
19 Kusukela entshonalanga abantu bazalesaba ibizo likaThixo, njalo kusukela ekuphumeni kwelanga bazadumisa ubukhosi bakhe. Ngoba uzafika njengesikhukhula esifutheleneyo esifuqwa ngumoya kaThixo.
And they from the west, shall fear the name of the Lord: and they from the rising of the sun, his glory: when he shall come as a violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on:
20 “Umhlengi uzafika eZiyoni, kwabakaJakhobe abavuma izono zabo,” kutsho uThixo.
And there shall come a, redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord.
21 “Mina lesi yiso isivumelwano sami labo,” kutsho uThixo. “Umoya wami okuwe, lamazwi ami engiwabeke emlonyeni wakho akuyikusuka emlonyeni wakho, kumbe emilonyeni yabantwabakho, loba emilonyeni yezizukulwane zabo kusukela ngalesisikhathi kuze kube nininini,” kutsho uThixo.
This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is in thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
