< Isaya 18 >

1 Ole kwa nchi ya mvumo wa mabawa, kando ya mito ya Kushi,
Behold, land shadowed [with] wings, That [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 iwapelekayo wajumbe wake kwa njia ya bahari kwa mashua za mafunjo juu ya maji. Nendeni, wajumbe wepesi, kwa taifa la watu warefu wenye ngozi nyororo, kwa taifa linaloogopwa mbali na karibu, taifa gomvi lenye lugha ngeni, ambalo nchi yao imegawanywa kwa mito.
That is sending ambassadors by sea, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters—Go, swift messengers, To a nation drawn out and peeled, To a people fearful from its beginning and onward, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.
3 Enyi mataifa yote ya ulimwengu, ninyi mnaoishi duniani wakati bendera itakapoinuliwa milimani, mtaiona, nayo tarumbeta itakapolia, mtaisikia.
All you inhabitants of the world, And you dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills you look, And at the blowing of a horn you hear.
4 Hili ndilo Bwana aliloniambia: “Nitatulia kimya na kutazama kutoka maskani yangu, kama joto linalometameta katika mwanga wa jua, kama wingu la umande katika joto la wakati wa mavuno.”
For thus said YHWH to me: “I rest, and I look on My settled place, As a clear heat on an herb. As a thick cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 Kwa maana, kabla ya mavuno, wakati wa kuchanua ukishapita na maua yakawa zabibu zinazoiva, atayakata machipukizi kwa mundu wa kupogolea matawi, naye atakata na kuyaondoa matawi yaliyopanuka.
For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then [One] has cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches He has turned aside, cut down.
6 Yote yataachwa kwa ajili ya ndege wawindao wa mlimani na wanyama pori, ndege watajilisha juu yake wakati wote wa kiangazi, nao wanyama pori wakati wote wa masika.
They are left together to the ravenous bird of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And the ravenous bird has summered on them, And every beast of the earth winters on them.
7 Wakati huo matoleo yataletwa kwa Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote kutoka kwa taifa la watu warefu wenye ngozi nyororo, kutoka kwa taifa linaloogopwa mbali na karibu, kutoka taifa gomvi lenye lugha ngeni, ambalo nchi yao imegawanywa kwa mito, matoleo yataletwa katika Mlima Sayuni, mahali pa Jina la Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote.
At that time a present is brought to YHWH of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning until now, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, To the place of the Name of YHWH of Hosts—Mount Zion!”

< Isaya 18 >