Jeremiah’s Complaint
1You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5“If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble12:5 Or you feel secure only in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by12:5 Or the flooding of the Jordan?
6Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
7“I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
8My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
11It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
13They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
14This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
Yeremia Anwiinwii
1Woyɛ 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?
2Woadua wɔn, na wɔagye ntin;
wonyinyin na wɔsow aba.
Wɔbɔ wo din bere biara
nanso wɔn koma mmɛn wo.
3Nanso 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!
4Asase 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.”
Onyankopɔn Mmuae
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?
6Wo 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.
7“Megyaw me fi,
ato mʼagyapade asaworam;
mede nea medɔ no no
bɛhyɛ nʼatamfo nsa.
8Mʼagyapade ayɛ me sɛ
gyata a ɔwɔ kwae mu.
Ɔbobɔ mu gu me so;
ɛno nti metan no.
9So 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.
10Nguanhwɛfo bebree bɛsɛe me bobeturo,
na wɔatiatia me mfuw so;
wɔbɛdan me mfuw fɛɛfɛ no
ayɛ no asase hunu a ɛda mpan.
11Ɛbɛyɛ 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.
12Nkoko 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.
13Wobedua atoko, nso wobetwa nsɔe;
wɔbɛbrɛ wɔn ho nanso wɔrennya hwee.
Wɔn ani bewu wɔ wɔn nnɔbaetwa ho.
Awurade abufuwhyew nti.”
14Nea 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. 15Na sɛ mitu wɔn wie a, mehu wɔn mmɔbɔ bio, na mede wɔn mu biara bɛba nʼagyapade, ne nʼasase so. 16Na 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. 17Nanso sɛ ɔman bi antie a, metu nʼase, na masɛe no korakora,” Awurade na ose.
