< Yeremia 24 >
1 Bwana alinionyeshea kitu. Tazama, vikapu viwili vya tini viliwekwa mbele ya hekalu la Bwana. (Maono haya yalitokea baada ya Nebukadreza, mfalme wa Babeli, kumchukua mateka Yekonia mwana wa Yehoyakimu, mfalme wa Yuda, maofisa wa Yuda, mafundi na wafua vyuma kutoka Yerusalemu na kuwapeleka Babeli.)
The Lord caused me to see, and, behold, there were two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon had carried away into exile Yechonyahu the son of Yehoyakim the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and the locksmiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 Kikapu kimoja cha tini kilikuwa nzuri sana, kama tini za kwanza zilizoiva, lakini kikapu kingine cha tini zilizokuwa mbaya sana zisizoweza kuliwa.
The one basket [had] very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket [had] very bad figs, which could not be eaten, from being so bad.
3 Bwana akaniambia, “Unaona nini Yeremia?” Nikasema, “Tini. Tini ambazo ni nzuri sana na tini ambazo ni mbaya sana haziwezi kuliwa.”
Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs, are very good; and the bad ones, are very bad, which cannot be eaten, from being so bad.
4 Ndipo neno la Bwana likanijia, kusema,
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 “Bwana, Mungu wa Israeli, asema hivi: nitawaangalia mateka wa Yuda kwa manufaa yao, kama vile tini hizi nzuri, nilipowatoa mateka kutoka hapa mpaka nchi ya Wakaldayo.
Thus hath said the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6 Nitaweka macho yangu kwao wapate mema na kuwarejeshea nchi hii. Nitawajenga, wala sitawaangamiza.
And I will set my eye upon them for good, and I will cause them to return again to this land; and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 Nitawapanda, wala sitawang'oa. Ndipo nitawapa moyo wa kunijua; kwa kuwa mimi ndimi Bwana. Watakuwa watu wangu na mimi nitakuwa Mungu wao, hivyo watanirudia kwa moyo wao yote.
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be unto me for a people, and I will be unto them for God! for they will return unto me with all their heart.
8 Lakini kama vile tini mbaya ambazo ni hazifai kuliwa - asema Bwana - nitatenda hivi kwa Sedekia, mfalme wa Yuda, pamoja na viongozi wake, na pamoja na wengine wa Yerusalemu ambao wanabaki katika nchi hii au kwenda kukaa katika nchi ya Misri.
And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, from being so bad, surely thus hath said the Lord, So I will render Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those that dwell in the land of Egypt;
9 Nitawafanya kuwa kitu cha kutisha, wapate maafa, mbele ya falme zote duniani, aibu na somo kwa mithali, matusi, na laana mahali pote nitakapowafukuza.
And I will make them a horror because of [their] mishaps unto all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and a proverb, a byword and a curse, in all the places whither I will drive them.
10 Nitatuma upanga, njaa, na tauni dhidi yao watapotelea mbali kutoka kwenye nchi niliyowapa wao na baba zao.”
And I will send out against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, till they be destroyed from off the land that I had given unto them and to their fathers.