Yeremia 12
1 Woyɛ ɔtreneeni bere biara, Awurade, sɛ mede asɛm to wʼanim a. Nso me ne wo bɛkasa afa wʼatɛntrenee ho: Adɛn nti na amumɔyɛfo kwan si wɔn yiye? Adɛn nti na wɔn a wonni gyidi ho dwo wɔn?
Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy [about what is happening to me], you [always] act justly/fairly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing [that I do not understand]: Why are wicked people [often] very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest/wicked people?
2 Woadua wɔn, na wɔagye ntin; wonyinyin na wɔsow aba. Wɔbɔ wo din bere biara nanso wɔn koma mmɛn wo.
You allow them to prosper like [MET] trees that grow tall and bear [a lot of] fruit. They [always] say [MTY] good things about you, but their hearts are [really] far from you.
3 Nanso wunim me, Awurade; wuhu me, na wosɔ mʼadwene a mewɔ wɔ wo ho no hwɛ. Twe wɔn kɔ sɛ nguan a wɔrekotwitwa wɔn mu! Yi wɔn si nkyɛn ma okumda!
But Yahweh, as for me, you know what is in my inner being. You see what I [do] and you are able to know what I am thinking. So drag away those [wicked] people, like [people drag away] sheep that they are going to butcher. Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!
4 Asase no nkyen nkosi da bɛn na prama so sare nguan nkosi da bɛn? Esiane sɛ wɔn a wɔte so no yɛ amumɔyɛfo nti mmoa ne nnomaa a wɔwɔ so awuwu. Na nnipa no da so ka se, “Ɔrenhu nea ɛba yɛn so.”
This land is [RHQ] becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. The wild animals and the birds have [all] died because the people are [very] wicked. [All that has happened] because the people have said, “Yahweh does not know what we are doing (OR, what will happen to us)!”
5 “Sɛ wo ne mmarima atu mmirika ama woabrɛ a, ɛbɛyɛ dɛn na wo ne apɔnkɔ besi mmirikakan? Sɛ wuhintiw wɔ asase petee so a, ɛno de, dɛn na wobɛyɛ wɔ Yordan ho nkyɛkyerɛ mu?
[Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me], [“It is as though] you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you [stumble and] fall when you are running on open/bare/smooth ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thornbushes near the Jordan [River]?
6 Wo nuabarimanom, wʼankasa abusuafo, wɔn mpo ayi wo ama; wɔteɛ mu dennen tia wo. Mfa wo ho nto wɔn so, sɛ mpo wɔka wo ho asɛm pa a.
[Already] your brothers and [other members of] your own family oppose you. They (plot against/plan to do evil things to) you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them!
7 “Megyaw me fi, ato mʼagyapade asaworam; mede nea medɔ no no bɛhyɛ nʼatamfo nsa.
I have abandoned my [Israeli] people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the Israeli people, whom I love.
8 Mʼagyapade ayɛ me sɛ gyata a ɔwɔ kwae mu. Ɔbobɔ mu gu me so; ɛno nti metan no.
My people have become to me like [SIM] a lion in the forest. [It is as though] they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them.
9 So mʼagyapade nyɛɛ me sɛ anomaa a nkekae sisi ne ho a ɔkyere mmoa na nnomaa foforo a wɔkyere mmoa atwa ne ho ahyia resosɔw no ana? Monkɔboaboa nkekaboa nyinaa ano. Momfa wɔn mmra na wonkum wɔn.
My chosen people have [RHQ] become like speckled hawks that are surrounded by vultures [waiting to eat their flesh after they are dead]. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat [the flesh of their corpses].
10 Nguanhwɛfo bebree bɛsɛe me bobeturo, na wɔatiatia me mfuw so; wɔbɛdan me mfuw fɛɛfɛ no ayɛ no asase hunu a ɛda mpan.
Many rulers [from other countries have come with their armies and] devastated/destroyed my people [whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his] vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives.
11 Ɛbɛyɛ asase a ada mpan a, awo wosee na ɛda hɔ kwa wɔ mʼanim; asase no nyinaa bɛda mpan efisɛ obiara nni hɔ a ɔhwɛ so.
They have caused it to become completely empty; [it is as though] I hear the land crying sadly/mournfully. The whole land is desolate, and no one (worries about/pays any attention to) it.
12 Nkoko wosee a ɛwɔ nweatam no nyinaa so no na asɛefo bɛba abegu bebree, Awurade afoa bekunkum wɔn afi asase ano de akosi ano nohɔ; obiara remfa ne ho nni.
The soldiers [of our enemies] have marched across all the barren hilltops. But [I], Yahweh, am using those armies [MTY] to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape.
13 Wobedua atoko, nso wobetwa nsɔe; wɔbɛbrɛ wɔn ho nanso wɔrennya hwee. Wɔn ani bewu wɔ wɔn nnɔbaetwa ho. Awurade abufuwhyew nti.”
[It is as though] my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired [because of much hard work], but they have gained nothing [from all that work]. They will be very disappointed because their harvests [will be very small], [and that will happen] because [I], Yahweh, am extremely angry [with them].”
14 Nea Awurade se ni: “Na me yɔnkonom amumɔyɛfo a wɔfa agyapade a, mede maa me nkurɔfo Israelfo no de, metu wɔn afi wɔn nsase so na metu Yudafi afi wɔn mu.
This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “[I will punish] the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israeli people, and I will force them to leave their own land. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their land, also.
15 Na sɛ mitu wɔn wie a, mehu wɔn mmɔbɔ bio, na mede wɔn mu biara bɛba nʼagyapade, ne nʼasase so.
But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each [clan] will come back to its own land.
16 Na sɛ wosua me nkurɔfo akwan yiye na wɔbɔ me din ka ntam se, ‘Nokware sɛ Awurade te ase yi’ a, ɛwɔ mu sɛ mmere bi wɔkyerɛɛ me nkurɔfo ma wɔde Baal kaa ntam de, nanso wɔn ase betim wɔ me nkurɔfo mu.
And if the people [of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel] learn the [religious] customs of my people, and if they learn that I [am listening] when they solemnly promise that they will do something good, like they taught my people to believe that [their god] Baal [was listening] when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people.
17 Nanso sɛ ɔman bi antie a, metu nʼase, na masɛe no korakora,” Awurade na ose.
But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
