U-Isaya 36
1 Kwasekusithi ngomnyaka wetshumi lane wenkosi uHezekhiya, uSenakheribi inkosi yeAsiriya wenyuka wamelana lemizi yonke evikelweyo yakoJuda, wayithatha.
In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked and conquered all the fortified towns of Judah.
2 Njalo inkosi yeAsiriya yathuma uRabi-Shake esuka eLakishi esiya eJerusalema enkosini uHezekhiya lebutho elinzima. Wasesima emfolweni wechibi elingaphezulu, emgwaqweni omkhulu wensimu yomwatshi.
The king of Assyria sent his army general, along with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field.
3 Kwasekuphumela kuye uEliyakhimi, indodana kaHilikhiya, owayephezu kwendlu, loShebina umbhali, loJowa indodana kaAsafi umabhalane.
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went out to speak with him.
4 URabi-Shake wasesithi kubo: Tshonini khathesi kuHezekhiya ukuthi: Itsho njalo inkosi enkulu, inkosi yeAsiriya: Lithemba bani leli othembele kulo?
The Assyrian army general said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What are you trusting in that gives you such confidence?
5 Ngithi (kodwa yilizwi lendebe): Kuleseluleko lamandla empi. Khathesi uthembele kubani ukuthi ungivukele?
You say you have a strategy and are ready for war, but these are empty words. Who are you relying on, now that you have rebelled against me?
6 Khangela, uthembele kuloludondolo lwalo umhlanga owephukileyo, kuyo iGibhithe, okuthi uba umuntu eseyama kulo, luzangena esandleni sakhe lusihlabe. Unjalo uFaro inkosi yeGibhithe kubo bonke abathembela kuye.
Now look! You're trusting in Egypt, a walking stick that's like a broken reed that will cut the hand of anyone leaning on it. That's what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is like to everyone who trusts in him.
7 Kodwa uba usithi kimi: Sithembela eNkosini uNkulunkulu wethu; kakusuye yini ozindawo zakhe eziphakemeyo lamalathi akhe uHezekhiya akususileyo, wathi kuJuda leJerusalema: Lizakhonza phambi kwaleli ilathi?
If you tell me, ‘We're trusting in the Lord our God,’ well didn't Hezekiah remove his high places and his altars, telling Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You have to worship at this altar in Jerusalem’?
8 Ngakho-ke ake unike isibambiso enkosini yami, inkosi yeAsiriya; njalo ngizakunika amabhiza azinkulungwane ezimbili, uba wena ulakho ukunika abagadi bamabhiza phezu kwawo.
Why don't you accept a challenge from my master, the king of Assyria? He says, I'll give you two thousand horses, if you can find enough riders for them!
9 Uzabuyisela njani-ke emuva ubuso bombusi oyedwa wabancinyane bezinceku zenkosi yami, wena-ke uthembela eGibhithe ngenxa yezinqola labagadi bamabhiza?
How could you defeat even a single officer in charge of the weakest of my master's men when you're trusting in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 Khathesi sengenyukile yini ngingelaNkosi ngimelene lalelilizwe ukulichitha? INkosi yathi kimi: Yenyuka umelene lalelilizwe, ulichithe.
More than that—would I have come to attack this place without the Lord's encouragement? It was the Lord himself who told me, ‘Go and attack this land and destroy it.’”
11 UEIiyakimi loShebina loJowa basebesithi kuRabi-Shake: Ake ukhulume lenceku zakho ngesiSiriya, ngoba siyasiqedisisa; ungakhulumi lathi ngesiJuda, endlebeni zabantu abaphezu komduli.
Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah, said to the army general, “Please speak to us, your servants, in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.”
12 Kodwa uRabi-Shake wathi: Inkosi yami ingithume enkosini yakho lakuwe yini ukukhuluma lamazwi? Kakusebantwini yini abahlezi phezu komduli ukuze badle ubulongwe babo, banathe umchamo wabo kanye lani?
But the army general replied, “Did my master only send me to say these things to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall? They too, just like you, are going to have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine!”
13 URabi-Shake wema-ke, wamemeza ngelizwi elikhulu ngesiJuda, wathi: Zwanini amazwi enkosi enkulu, inkosi yeAsiriya.
Then the army general shouted out in Hebrew, “Listen to this from the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 Itsho njalo inkosi: UHezekhiya kangalikhohlisi, ngoba kayikuba lakho ukulikhulula.
This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah trick you! He can't save you!
15 Futhi uHezekhiya angalenzi lithembele eNkosini, esithi: INkosi izasikhulula lokusikhulula; lumuzi kawuyikunikelwa esandleni senkosi yeAsiriya.
Don't believe Hezekiah when he tells you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘I'm certain the Lord will save us. This city will never fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
16 Lingamlaleli uHezekhiya, ngoba itsho njalo inkosi yeAsiriya: Dingani umusa wami ngesipho, lisithumele kimi; lidle ngulowo lalowo okwevini lakhe, langulowo lalowo okomkhiwa wakhe, linathe ngulowo lalowo amanzi omthombo wakhe;
Don't listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king says: Make a peace treaty with me and surrender to me. That way everyone will eat from their own vine and their own fig tree, and drink water from their own well!
17 ngize ngifike, ngilithathe, ngilise elizweni elifanana lelizwe lenu, ilizwe lamabele lewayini elitsha, ilizwe lesinkwa lezivini.
I will come and take you to a land that's like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 UHezekhiya kangalihugi esithi: INkosi izasikhulula. Onkulunkulu bezizwe bakhulule yini, ngulowo lalowo ilizwe lakhe, esandleni samakhosi eAsiriya?
But don't let Hezekiah trick you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have any of the gods of any nation ever saved their land from the power of the king of Assyria?
19 Bangaphi onkulunkulu beHamathi leArpadi? Bangaphi onkulunkulu beSefavayimi? Bayikhulule yini layo iSamariya esandleni sami?
Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? Were they able to save Samaria from me?
20 Ngobani phakathi kwabo bonke onkulunkulu balawomazwe abakhulule ilizwe labo esandleni sami, ukuthi iNkosi ikhulule iJerusalema esandleni sami?
Which one of all the gods of these countries has saved their land from me? How then could the Lord save Jerusalem from me?”
21 Kodwa bathula, kabaze bamphendula lizwi, ngoba umlayo wenkosi wawuyikuthi: Lingamphenduli.
But the people remained silent and didn't say anything, for Hezekiah had given the order, “Don't answer him.”
22 Kwasekufika uEliyakhimi, indodana kaHilikhiya, owayephezu kwendlu, loShebina umbhali, loJowa indodana kaAsafi, umabhalane, kuHezekhiya, izigqoko zabo zidatshuliwe, bamtshela amazwi kaRabi-Shake.
Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace manager, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, son of Asaph, the record-keeper, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they told him what the Assyrian army general had said.
