UJeremiya 22
1 Nanku akutshoyo uThixo: “Hamba wehlele endlini yenkosi yakoJuda umemezele khona ilizwi leli uthi,
This is what the Lord has said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there give him this word,
2 ‘Zwana ilizwi likaThixo, we nkosi yakoJuda, wena ohlala esihlalweni sobukhosi sikaDavida, wena lezikhulu zakho kanye labantu bakho abangena ngamasango la.
And say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, seated on the seat of David, you and your servants and your people who come in by these doors.
3 UThixo uthi: Yenzani okulungileyo lokuqondileyo. Mhlenge esandleni somncindezeli wakhe lowo ophangiweyo. Lingenzi okubi loba udlakela kowezizweni, intandane loba umfelokazi, njalo lingachithi igazi elingelacala kule indawo.
This is what the Lord has said: Do what is right, judging uprightly, and make free from the hands of the cruel one him whose goods have been violently taken away: do no wrong and be not violent to the man from a strange country and the child without a father and the widow, and let not those who have done no wrong be put to death in this place.
4 Ngoba nxa linanzelela ukulandela imilayo le, amakhosi ahlala esihlalweni sobukhosi sikaDavida azangena ngamasango ale indawo, egade izinqola zempi lamabhiza, elezikhulu zawo kanye labantu bawo.
For if you truly do this, then there will come in through the doors of this house kings seated on the seat of David, going in carriages and on horseback, he and his servants and his people
5 Kodwa nxa imilayo le lingayilaleli, kutsho uThixo, ngifunga ngami ukuthi indawo le izakuba lunxiwa.’”
But if you do not give ear to these words, I give you my oath by myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a waste.
6 Ngoba mayelana lendawo yenkosi yakoJuda uThixo uthi: “Lanxa unjengeGiliyadi kimi, lanjengengqongo yeLebhanoni, ngeqiniso ngizakwenza ufane lenkangala, lanjengamadolobho angahlali muntu.
For this is what the Lord has said about the family of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, and the top of Lebanon: but, truly, I will make you waste, with towns unpeopled.
7 Ngizakuthumela abachithi, indoda nganye ilezikhali zayo, njalo bazaquma imijabo yenu emihle yemisedari bayiphosele emlilweni.
And I will make ready those who will send destruction on you, everyone armed for war: by them your best cedar-trees will be cut down and put in the fire.
8 Abantu abavela ezizweni ezinengi bazadlula kulelidolobho babuzane besithi, ‘Kungani uThixo enze into enje kulelidolobho elikhulu na?’
And nations from all sides will go past this town, and every man will say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done such things to this great town?
9 Impendulo izakuthi: ‘Ngoba basidelile isivumelwano sikaThixo uNkulunkulu wabo bakhonza abanye onkulunkulu njalo babasebenzela.’”
And they will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord their God, and became worshippers and servants of other gods.
10 Lingayikhaleli inkosi efileyo loba lililele ukulilahlekela kwayo; kodwa, khalelani kakhulu othunjiweyo, ngoba kasayikubuya njalo loba abone ilizwe lakibo futhi.
Let there be no weeping for the dead, and make no songs of grief for him: but make bitter weeping for him who has gone away, for he will never come back or see again the country of his birth.
11 Ngoba mayelana loShalumi indodana kaJosiya, owangena esikhundleni sikayise esiba yinkosi yakoJuda kodwa osesukile kule indawo: UThixo uthi, “Kasoze abuye futhi.
For this is what the Lord has said about Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: He will never come back there again:
12 Uzafela kuleyondawo asiwa kuyo ethunjiwe; ilizwe leli kasoze alibone futhi.”
But death will come to him in the place where they have taken him away prisoner, and he will never see this land again.
13 “Maye kuye owakha indlu yakhe yobukhosi ngokungalungi, lezindlu zakhe zangaphezulu ngokungafanelanga, esenza abantu bakibo basebenzele ize, engabaholisi lutho ngokusebenza kwabo.
A curse is on him who is building his house by wrongdoing, and his rooms by doing what is not right; who makes use of his neighbour without payment, and gives him nothing for his work;
14 Uthi, ‘Ngizazakhela indlu enkulu yobukhosi elezitezi ezibanzi.’ Ngakho uyenza ibe lamawindi amakhulu, ayinameke ngemisidari, ayicombe ngokubomvu.
Who says, I will make a wide house for myself, and rooms of great size, and has windows cut out, and has it roofed with cedar and painted with bright red.
15 Ukuba lemisedari eminenginengi kukwenza ube yinkosi na? Uyihlo kazange abe lokudla lokunathwayo na? Wenza okuqondileyo lokulungileyo, ngakho konke kwamlungela.
Are you to be a king because you make more use of cedar than your father? did not your father take food and drink and do right, judging in righteousness, and then it was well for him?
16 Wavikela amalungelo abayanga labaswelayo, ngakho konke kwamlungela. Lokho akusikho okutsho ukungazi na?” kutsho uThixo.
He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord.
17 “Kodwa amehlo akho lenhliziyo yakho kukhangele inzuzo yenkohliso, lokuchitha igazi elingelacala, ukuncindezela kanye lodlakela.”
But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.
18 Ngakho mayelana loJehoyakhimi indodana kaJosiya, inkosi yakoJuda, uThixo uthi: “Kabayikumkhalela besithi: ‘Maye ngomfowethu! Maye ngodadewethu!’ Kabayikumkhalela besithi: ‘Maye ngenkosi yami! Maye ngobuhle bayo obukhulu!’
So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 Uzangcwatshwa njengobabhemi, ahudulwe aphoselwe ngaphandle kwamasango aseJerusalema.”
They will do to him what they do to the dead body of an ass; his body will be pulled out and placed on the earth outside the doors of Jerusalem.
20 “Qansa uye eLebhanoni umemeze, wenze ilizwi lakho lizwakale eBhashani; memeza use-Abharimi, ngoba bonke abamanyane lawe banqotshiwe.
Go up to Lebanon and give a cry; let your voice be loud in Bashan, crying out from Abarim; for all your lovers have come to destruction
21 Ngakuxwayisa uzibona uvikelekile, kodwa wena wathi, ‘Angiyikulalela!’ Le ibe iyindlela yakho kusukela ebutsheni bakho; kawungilalelanga.
My word came to you in the time of your well-being; but you said, I will not give ear. This has been your way from your earliest years, you did not give attention to my voice.
22 Umoya uzabaxotshela khatshana bonke abelusi bakho, labamanyene lawe bazathunjwa. Lapho-ke uzayangeka ube lenhloni ngenxa yobubi bakho bonke.
All the keepers of your sheep will be food for the wind, and your lovers will be taken away prisoners: truly, then you will be shamed and unhonoured because of all your evil-doing.
23 Lina abahlala ‘eLebhanoni,’ eligcineke kuhle ezindlini zemisedari, lizabubula kakhulu lapho inhlungu zilehlela, ubuhlungu obunjengowesifazane ehelelwa!”
O you who are living in Lebanon, making your living-place in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied will you be when pains come on you, as on a woman in childbirth!
24 UThixo uthi, “Ngeqiniso njengoba ngikhona, lanxa ngabe wena, Jehoyakhini ndodana kaJehoyakhimi inkosi yakoJuda, wawuyindandatho ebukekayo esandleni sami sokunene, ngangizakukhupha.
By my life, says the Lord, even if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was the ring on my right hand, even from there I would have you pulled off;
25 Ngizakunikela kulabo abafuna ukukubulala, labo obesabayo, uNebhukhadineza inkosi yaseBhabhiloni lakumaKhaladiya.
And I will give you into the hands of those desiring your death, and into the hands of those whom you are fearing, even into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldaeans.
26 Wena kanye lonyoko owakuzalayo ngizaliphosela kwelinye ilizwe, lapho elingazalelwanga khona, lapho elizafela khona lobabili.
I will send you out, and your mother who gave you birth, into another country not the land of your birth; and there death will come to you.
27 Kaliyikuphinda libuye elizweni elifisa ukuza kulo.”
But to the land on which their soul's desire is fixed, they will never come back.
28 Umuntu lo, uJehoyakhini, uyimbiza efileyo, edelelwayo, into engafunwa muntu na? Kungani yena labantwabakhe bezaphoselwa ngaphandle, balahlelwe elizweni abangalaziyo na?
Is this man Coniah a broken vessel of no value? is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? why are they violently sent out, he and his seed, into a land which is strange to them?
29 Wena lizwe, lizwe, lizwe, zwana ilizwi likaThixo!
O earth, earth, earth, give ear to the word of the Lord!
30 UThixo uthi: “Bhalani umuntu lo njengongelabantwana, umuntu ongayikuphumelela empilweni yakhe, ngoba kakho owenzalo yakhe ozaphumelela, kakho ozahlala esihlalweni sobukhosi sikaDavida loba abuse futhi koJuda.”
The Lord has said, Let this man be recorded as having no children, a man who will not do well in all his life: for no man of his seed will do well, seated on the seat of the kingdom of David and ruling again in Judah.
