Isaya 17
1 Neno kuhusu Dameski: “Tazama, Dameski haitakuwa tena mji bali itakuwa lundo la magofu.
The burden of Damascus: "Look, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
2 Miji ya Aroeri itaachwa na itaachiwa mifugo ambayo italala huko, bila yeyote wa kuyaogopesha.
Her cities will be abandoned forever. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 Mji wenye ngome utatoweka kutoka Efraimu, nao uweza wa ufalme kutoka Dameski; mabaki ya Aramu yatakuwa kama utukufu wa Waisraeli,” asema Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote.
The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says the LORD of hosts.
4 “Katika siku ile utukufu wa Yakobo utafifia, unono wa mwili wake utadhoofika.
"It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 Itakuwa kama mvunaji akusanyavyo nafaka na kuvuna nafaka kwa mikono yake, kama wakati mtu aokotapo masazo ya masuke katika Bonde la Warefai.
It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Hata hivyo baadhi ya masazo yatabaki, kama vile mti wa mzeituni unavyopigwa, kukiachwa zeituni mbili au tatu juu ya matawi kileleni, nne au tano katika matawi yazaayo sana,” asema Bwana, Mungu wa Israeli.
Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 Katika siku ile watu watamwangalia Muumba wao, na kuelekeza macho yao kwa yule Aliye Mtakatifu wa Israeli.
In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8 Hawataziangalia tena madhabahu, kazi za mikono yao, nao hawataheshimu nguzo za Ashera, na madhabahu za kufukizia uvumba zilizofanywa kwa mikono yao.
They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.
9 Katika siku ile miji yao iliyo imara, ambayo waliihama kwa sababu ya Waisraeli, itakuwa kama mahali palipoachwa pa vichaka na magugu. Nayo yote itakuwa ukiwa.
In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.
10 Mmemsahau Mungu Mwokozi wenu, hamkumkumbuka Mwamba aliye ngome yenu. Kwa hiyo, hata ingawa mlipandikiza mimea iliyo mizuri sana na kuotesha mizabibu ya kigeni,
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
11 hata kama siku ile unapoipandikiza, unaifanya iote na asubuhi ile ile unayoipanda, unaifanya ichipue, hata hivyo mavuno yatakuwa kama si kitu katika siku ile ya ugonjwa na maumivu yasiyoponyeka.
In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Lo! Ghadhabu ya mataifa mengi, wanaghadhibika kama bahari iliyochafuka! Lo! Makelele ya mataifa wanavuma kama ngurumo za maji mengi!
Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters.
13 Ingawa mataifa yanavuma kama ngurumo za maji yanayofanya mawimbi, wakati anapoyakemea yanakimbia mbali, yanafukuzwa mbele ya upepo kama makapi juu ya milima, kama jani livingirishwapo na dhoruba.
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
14 Wakati wa jioni, hofu ya ghafula! Kabla ya asubuhi, wametoweka! Hili ndilo fungu la wale wanaotupora, fungu la wale wanaotunyangʼanya mali zetu.
At evening, look, terror. Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
