< Isaya 18 >
1 Ole kwa nchi ya wezi wa mabawa, iliyoko mbali kupitia mito ya Ethiopia;
Ho, land shadowed [with] wings, That [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 wanowatuma mabalozi wao kwa kupitia bahari, na vyombo vya majani juu ya maji. Nendeni enyi wajumbe wepesi, kwa watu warefu na laini waishio kwenye nchi, kwa watu wanogopa mbali na karibu, taifa lenye nguvu, wakanyagao watu, ambao mito imegawanya nchi yao.
That is sending by sea ambassadors, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters, — Go, ye light messengers, Unto a nation drawn out and peeled, Unto a people fearful from its beginning and onwards, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.
3 Watu wote wakaao duniani nao wakaao katika nchi, pale ishara itakaponyanyuliwa juu ya milima, angalia; na sikilizeni mbiu itakapopulizwa.
All ye inhabitants of the world, And ye dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills ye look, And at the blowing of a trumpet ye hear.
4 Yahwe asema hivi, ''nitachunguza kimyakimya kutoka nyumbani kwangu, kama kupika joto kwenye jua, na kama ukungu kwenye joto la mavuno.
For thus said Jehovah unto 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 Kabla ya mavuno, pale kipindi cha maua kinapoisha, na maua yako tayari kuwa zabibu. Atakata matawi kwa kupogoa ndoano, na atakatiwa chini na kuchukua matawi yaliyotawanyika.
For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then hath [one] cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches he hath turned aside, cut down.
6 Wataachwa kwa pamoja maana ndege wa milimani na wanyama wa duniani. Ndege watatua kwao majira ya joto, na wanyama wote watakuwa kwao kipindi cha baridi.''
They are left together to the ravenous fowl of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And summered on them hath the ravenous fowl, And every beast of the earth wintereth on them.
7 Kwa mda huo kodi italetwa kwa Yahwe wa majeshi kwa watu warefu na laini, kwa watu wanohofia umbali na ukaribu, taifa imara na kukanyagwa chini, ambayo nchi yao imegawanjwa na mito, Kwa sehemu ya jina la Yahwe wa majeshi, mpaka mlima Sayuni.
At that time brought is a present to Jehovah of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning hitherto, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, Unto the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts — mount Zion!'