Torati 12
1 Hizi ndizo amri na sheria ambazo ni lazima mwe waangalifu kuzifuata katika nchi ambayo Bwana, Mungu wa baba zenu, amewapa kumiliki, kwa muda wote mtakaoishi katika nchi.
“These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the soil.
2 Haribuni kabisa kila mahali pao pa kuabudia kwenye milima mirefu, vilima na chini ya kila mti mkubwa ambamo mataifa haya mnayokwenda kuchukua ardhi yao huabudia miungu yao.
Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy tree.
3 Bomoeni madhabahu zao, vunjeni yale mawe wanayoabudu, chomeni moto nguzo zao za Ashera; katilieni mbali sanamu za miungu yao na mfute majina yao mahali hapo.
Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places.
4 Kamwe msimwabudu Bwana Mungu wenu kama wanavyoabudu wao.
But you shall not do the same to the Lord your God.
5 Bali mtatafuta mahali Bwana Mungu wenu atakapopachagua katika makabila yenu yote ili aliweke jina lake huko kuwa makao yake. Mahali hapo ndipo iwapasapo kwenda;
Instead, you shall approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place.
6 hapo ndipo mtakapoleta sadaka zenu za kuteketezwa na dhabihu, zaka zenu na changizo zenu, kile ulichoweka nadhiri kutoa, sadaka zenu za hiari na malimbuko ya makundi yenu ya ngʼombe pamoja na mbuzi na kondoo.
And you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep.
7 Hapo, katika uwepo wa Bwana Mungu wenu, ninyi pamoja na jamaa zenu, mtakula na kufurahia kila kitu ambacho mmegusa kwa mikono yenu, kwa sababu Bwana Mungu wenu amewabariki.
And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for you.
8 Msifanye kama tunavyofanya hapa leo, kila mtu anavyopenda mwenyewe,
You shall not do there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good to himself.
9 kwa kuwa bado hamjafikia mahali pa mapumziko na urithi ambao Bwana Mungu wenu anawapa.
For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to you.
10 Lakini mtavuka Yordani na kuishi katika nchi Bwana Mungu wenu anayowapa kama urithi, naye atawapa pumziko kutokana na adui zenu wote wanaowazunguka ili ninyi mpate kuishi kwa salama.
You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear,
11 Kisha kuhusu mahali Bwana Mungu wenu atakapopachagua kuwa mahali pa makao ya Jina lake, hapo ndipo inapowapasa kuleta kila kitu ninachowaamuru: sadaka zenu za kuteketezwa na dhabihu, zaka zenu na changizo, pamoja na vitu vyote vyenye thamani ambavyo mmeweka nadhiri kumtolea Bwana.
in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow to the Lord.
12 Hapo furahini mbele za Bwana Mungu wenu, ninyi, wana wenu na binti zenu, watumishi wenu wa kiume na wa kike, pamoja na Walawi kutoka miji yenu ambao hawana mgawo wala urithi wao wenyewe.
In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you.
13 Kuweni waangalifu, msitoe dhabihu zenu za kuteketezwa mahali popote mnapopapenda.
Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that you see.
14 Mtazitoa tu mahali pale ambapo Bwana atachagua katika mojawapo ya makabila yenu, nanyi hapo zingatieni kila jambo ninalowaamuru.
Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct you.
15 Hata hivyo, mnaweza kuwachinja wanyama wenu katika miji yenu yoyote ile na kula nyama nyingi mpendavyo kama vile mmemchinja paa au kulungu, kulingana na baraka mtakazojaliwa na Bwana Mungu wenu. Watu walio najisi au walio safi wanaweza kula.
So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag.
16 Lakini kamwe usinywe damu; imwage juu ya ardhi kama maji.
Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water.
17 Hamruhusiwi kula katika miji yenu zaka yenu ya nafaka, ya divai mpya na ya mafuta, au mzaliwa wa kwanza wa makundi yenu ya ngʼombe na makundi yenu ya mbuzi na kondoo, wala chochote ambacho mmeweka nadhiri kukitoa, au sadaka zako za hiari, wala matoleo maalum.
You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands.
18 Badala yake, mtakula vitu hivyo katika uwepo wa Bwana Mungu wenu mahali ambapo Bwana Mungu wenu atapachagua: wewe, wana wako na binti zako, watumishi wako wa kiume na wa kike, na Walawi kutoka miji yenu. Mnatakiwa mfurahi mbele za Bwana Mungu wenu kwa kula kitu mtakachoweka mikono yenu.
But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand.
19 Mwe waangalifu msiwapuuze Walawi kwa muda wote mnaoishi katika nchi yenu.
Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at any time while you are living in the land.
20 Bwana Mungu wenu atakapokuwa ameongeza nchi yenu kama alivyowaahidi, nanyi mkitamani nyama na mkisema, “Ningependa nyama,” hapo unaweza kula nyingi upendavyo.
When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,
21 Kama mahali ambapo Bwana Mungu wenu atapachagua kuweka Jina lake ni mbali sana kutoka kwenu, unaweza kuchinja wanyama kutoka makundi yenu ya ngʼombe, ya mbuzi na ya kondoo ambayo Bwana amewapa, kama nilivyokuamuru, na mkiwa katika miji yenu wenyewe mnaweza kula nyingi mtakavyo.
but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you.
22 Mle kama vile mngekula paa na kulungu. Wote walio najisi kiibada na walio safi mwaweza kula.
Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike.
23 Lakini hakikisheni kwamba hamkunywa damu, kwa sababu damu ni uhai, kamwe msile uhai pamoja na nyama.
Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh.
24 Hamruhusiwi kamwe kunywa damu; imwageni juu ya ardhi kama maji.
Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water,
25 Msinywe damu, ili mweze kufanikiwa ninyi pamoja na watoto wenu baada yenu, kwa sababu mtakuwa mkifanya lililo haki machoni pa Bwana.
so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
26 Lakini vichukueni vitu vyenu vilivyowekwa wakfu pamoja na vile mlivyoweka nadhiri, mwende mahali pale Bwana atakapopachagua.
But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose.
27 Leteni sadaka zenu za kuteketezwa juu ya madhabahu ya Bwana Mungu wenu, vyote nyama na damu. Damu ya dhabihu zenu lazima imiminwe kando ya madhabahu ya Bwana Mungu wenu, lakini nyama mnaweza kula.
And you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh.
28 Mwe waangalifu kutii masharti haya yote ninayowapa, ili kwamba siku zote mweze kufanikiwa, ninyi pamoja na watoto wenu baada yenu, kwa sababu mtakuwa mkifanya lililo jema na sahihi mbele za macho ya Bwana Mungu wenu.
Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 Bwana Mungu wenu atayakatilia mbali mbele yenu mataifa ambayo punde kidogo mtayavamia na kuyaondoa. Lakini mtakapokuwa mmeyafukuza na kuishi katika nchi yao,
When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land,
30 na baada ya kuangamizwa mbele yenu, mwe waangalifu msijiingize katika tanzi kwa kuuliza habari za miungu yao, mkisema, “Je, mataifa haya hutumikiaje miungu yao? Nasi tutafanya vivyo hivyo.”
be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’
31 Kamwe msimwabudu Bwana Mungu wenu kwa njia wanayoabudu miungu yao, kwa sababu katika kuabudu miungu yao, wanafanya aina zote za machukizo anayoyachukia Bwana. Hata huwateketeza wana wao na binti zao kwa moto kama kafara kwa miungu yao.
You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.
32 Angalieni kwamba mnafanya yote niliyowaamuru; msiongeze kitu wala msipunguze kitu.
What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.”
