Isaya 17
1 Tamko kuhusu Damaskasi.
The burden of Damascus: "Look, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
2 Miji ya Aroera itaharibiwa. Patakuwa na nafasi kwa ajili ya kutunzia mifugo, na hakuna hatakayeizuia.
Her cities will be abandoned forever. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 Miji ilioachwa itatoweka kutoka Efraimu, ufalme katuka Damskasi, na walobaki Aramu-watakuwa kama utukufu wa watu wa Israeli-Hili ni tamko la Yahwe wa majeshi.
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 Itakuwa siku hiyo utukufu wa Yakobo utapungua, utakuwa mwembamba na kunona kwa mwili wake utapungua.
"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 mvuna ikusanyavyo mavuno, na mkono wake huvuna maganda ya mazao. Itakuwa kama mtu atoae maganda ya mavuno katika bonde la Refaimu.
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 Masalia yataachwa, hata hivyo, mti wa mzabibu utatingishwa: Mizeituni miwili au mitatu iliyo juu sana matawi yake yako juu, manne au matano katka tawi la juu katika mti unaozaa-hili ni tamko la Yahwe, 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 Siku hiyo watu watawangalia Muumba wake, na macho yatamuangalia 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 Hawatangalia madhabahu, kazi za mikono yao, wala hataangalia kile kinachofanywa na vidole vyao, nguzo za Ashera na picha ya jua.
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 Siku hiyo miji yenye nguvu itakuwa kama msitu uliotelekezwa na juu ya kilele cha mlima, na palipo achwa kwa sababu ya wana wa Israeli patakuwa 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 Maana mmemsahau Mungu wa wakovu wenu, na umeudharau mwamba wa nguvu zako. Hivyo basi umeotesha miti mizuri, na mizabibu mizuri iliyotoka ugenini,
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 Siku hiyo uliootesha na fensi na kulima. Mbegu zako zitaota mapema na kukua, lakini mavuno yatashindikana siku hiyo itakuwa huzuni na kukata tamaa.
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 Ole! Watu wenye ghasia, Kishindo chake ni kama mngurumo wa bahari, na kasi ya mataifa, wananguruma kama ngurumo ya 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 Mataifa yataunguruma kama maji mengi yaendao kasi, lakini Mungu atawakemea.
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 Watakimbia mbali sana na watafukuzwa kama pumba kwenye mlima mbele ya upepo, kama mavumbi yazungukayo kwenye dhoruba. Wakati wa usiku, ona, hofu! Na kabla ya alfajiri watakwenda; hili ndilo eneo la wale waliotupora, na wale wanaotunyang'anya 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.
