Punishment for Israel
1Do not rejoice, Israel;
do not be jubilant like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful to your God;
you love the wages of a prostitute
at every threshing-floor.
2Threshing-floors and winepresses will not feed the people;
the new wine will fail them.
3They will not remain in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
4They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord,
nor will their sacrifices please him.
Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners;
all who eat them will be unclean.
This food will be for themselves;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
5What will you do on the day of your appointed festivals,
on the feast days of the Lord?
6Even if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,
and Memphis will bury them.
Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
7The days of punishment are coming,
the days of reckoning are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sins are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,
the inspired person a maniac.
8The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Ephraim,9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God
yet snares await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9They have sunk deep into corruption,
as in the days of Gibeah.
God will remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.
10‘When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig-tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol
and became as vile as the thing they loved.
11Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird –
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them of every one.
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place.
But Ephraim will bring out
their children to the slayer.’
14Give them, Lord –
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.
15‘Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
16Ephraim is blighted,
their root is withered,
they yield no fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will slay their cherished offspring.’
17My God will reject them
because they have not obeyed him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.
Chilango cha Israeli
1Iwe Israeli, usakondwere;
monga imachitira mitundu ina.
Pakuti wakhala wosakhulupirika kwa Mulungu wako;
umakonda malipiro a chiwerewere
pa malo aliwonse opunthira tirigu.
2Malo opunthira tirigu ndi malo opsinyira mphesa sadzadyetsa anthu;
adzasowa vinyo watsopano.
3Sadzakhalanso mʼdziko la Yehova.
Efereimu adzabwerera ku Igupto
ndipo mudzadya chakudya chodetsedwa ku Asiriya.
4Iwo sadzaperekanso chopereka cha chakumwa kwa Yehova,
kapena nsembe zawo kuti akondweretse Yehovayo.
Nsembe zotere zidzakhala kwa iwo ngati chakudya cha anamfedwa;
onse akudya chakudya chimenechi adzakhala odetsedwa.
Chakudya ichi chidzakhala chodya okha,
sichidzalowa mʼnyumba ya Yehova.
5Kodi mudzachita chiyani pa tsiku la maphwando anu oyikika;
pa masiku a zikondwerero za Yehova?
6Ngakhale iwo atathawa chiwonongeko,
Igupto adzawasonkhanitsa,
ndipo Mefisi adzawayika mʼmanda.
Khwisa adzamera pa ziwiya zawo zasiliva,
ndipo minga idzamera mʼmatenti awo.
7Masiku achilango akubwera,
masiku obwezera ali pafupi.
Israeli adziwe zimenezi.
Chifukwa machimo anu ndi ochuluka kwambiri
ndipo udani wanu pa Mulungu ndi waukulu kwambiri.
Mneneri amamuyesa chitsiru,
munthu wanzeru za kwa Mulungu ngati wamisala.
8Mneneri pamodzi ndi Mulungu wanga
ndiwo alonda a Efereimu,
koma mneneri amutchera misampha mʼnjira zake zonse,
ndipo udani ukumudikira mʼnyumba ya Mulungu wake.
9Iwo azama mu zachinyengo
monga masiku a Gibeya.
Mulungu adzakumbukira zolakwa zawo
ndipo adzawalanga chifukwa cha machimo awo.
10“Pamene ndinamupeza Israeli
zinali ngati kupeza mphesa mʼchipululu.
Nditaona makolo anu,
zinali ngati ndikuona nkhuyu zoyambirira kupsa.
Koma atafika ku Baala Peori,
anadzipereka ku fano lija lochititsa manyazi
ndipo anakhala onyansa ngati chinthu chimene anachikondacho.
11Ulemerero wa Efereimu udzawuluka ngati mbalame.
Sipadzakhalanso kubereka ana, kuyembekezera kapena kutenga pathupi.
12Ngakhale atalera ana
ndidzachititsa kuti mwana aliyense amwalire.
Tsoka kwa anthuwo
pamene Ine ndidzawafulatira!
13Ndaona Efereimu ngati Turo,
atadzalidwa pa nthaka ya chonde.
Koma Efereimu adzatsogolera
ana ake kuti akaphedwe.”
14Inu Yehova, muwapatse.
Kodi mudzawapatsa chiyani?
Apatseni mimba yomangopita padera
ndi mawere owuma.
15“Chifukwa cha zoyipa zawo zonse ku Giligala,
Ine ndinawada kumeneko.
Chifukwa cha machitidwe awo auchimo,
ndidzawapirikitsa mʼnyumba yanga.
Sindidzawakondanso;
atsogoleri awo onse ndi owukira.
16Efereimu wathedwa,
mizu yake yauma
sakubalanso zipatso.
Ngakhale atabereka ana,
Ine ndidzapha ana awo okondedwawo.”
17Mulungu wanga adzawakana
chifukwa sanamumvere Iye;
adzakhala oyendayenda pakati pa anthu a mitundu ina.
