Woe to David’s City
1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2Yet I will besiege Ariel;
she will mourn and lament,
she will be to me like an altar hearth.29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.
3I will encamp against you on all sides;
I will encircle you with towers
and set up my siege works against you.
4Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
your speech will mumble out of the dust.
Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;
out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5But your many enemies will become like fine dust,
the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6the Lord Almighty will come
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,
with a vision in the night—
8as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but awakens hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but awakens faint and thirsty still.
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
9Be stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers).
11For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules
14Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
23When they see among them their children,
the work of my hands,
they will keep my name holy;
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
those who complain will accept instruction.”
Tsoka kwa Mzinda wa Davide
1Tsoka kwa iwe, Arieli, Arieli,
mzinda umene Davide anakhazikitsamo zithando za nkhondo!
Papite chaka chimodzi kapena ziwiri
ndipo masiku a zikondwerero zanu azipitirirabe ndithu.
2Komatu Ine ndidzathira nkhondo Arieli
ndipo kudzakhala kulira ndi kudandaula,
mzindawo udzasanduka ngati ngʼanjo ya guwa lansembe.
3Ine ndidzamanga misasa ya nkhondo kulimbana ndi mzindawo;
ndidzakuzungulira ndi nsanja za nkhondo
ndi kumanga mitumbira yanga ya nkhondo kulimbana nawe.
4Utagwetsedwa pansi, iwe udzayankhula kuchokera mʼnthaka,
mawu ako adzatuluka uli mʼfumbi,
adzamveka ngati a mzukwa.
Mawu ako adzamveka ngati onongʼona kuchokera mʼfumbi.
5Koma chigulu cha adani ako chidzasanduka chifwirimbwiti.
Chigulu cha ankhondo achilendo chidzabalalika ngati mungu wowuluzika ndi mphepo.
Mwadzidzidzi ndi mosayembekezereka,
6Yehova Wamphamvuzonse adzabwera
ndi mabingu ndi chivomerezi ndi phokoso lalikulu,
kamvuluvulu ndi namondwe ndi malawi a moto wonyeketsa.
7Tsono chigulu chankhondo cha mitundu ina yonse chimene chikulimbana ndi mzinda wa Arieli
nʼkumathira nkhondo mzindawo, malinga ake ndi kuwuzinga,
chigulu chonsecho chidzazimirira ngati maloto,
gati zinthu zoziona mʼmasomphenya usiku.
8Chidzakhala ngati munthu wanjala wolota akudya,
koma podzuka ali nayobe njala;
kapena ngati munthu waludzu wolota akumwa,
koma podzuka, ali nalobe ludzu, kummero kwake kuli gwaa.
Izi zidzachitika pamene chigulu cha nkhondo cha mitundu ina yonse
chikunthira nkhondo Phiri la Ziyoni.
9Pitirizani kuledzera ndipo mudzakhala opusa.
Dzitsekeni mʼmaso ndipo mukhale osapenya,
ledzerani, koma osati ndi vinyo,
dzandirani, koma osati ndi mowa.
10Yehova wakugonetsani tulo tofa nato.
Watseka maso anu, inu aneneri;
waphimba mitu yanu, inu alosi.
11Kwa inu mawu onsewa ali ngati buku lotsekedwa, ndipo ngati lipatsidwa kwa wina wodziwa kuwerenga ndi kunena kuti, “Chonde tawerengani bukuli,” iye adzati, “Sindingathe popeza ndi lomatidwa.” 12Kapena ngati lipatsidwa kwa amene sadziwa kuwerenga ndi kunena kuti, “Chonde werenga bukuli,” iye adzayankha kuti, “Ine sindidziwa kuwerenga.”
13Ambuye akuti,
“Anthu awa amandipembedza Ine ndi pakamwa pawo,
ndi kundilemekeza Ine ndi milomo yawo,
koma mitima yawo ili kutali ndi Ine.
Kundipembedza kwawo ndi kwa chiphamaso.
Amandipembedza motsata malamulo a anthu amene anaphunzitsidwa.
14Nʼchifukwa chakenso Ine ndidzapitirira
kuwachitira ntchito zodabwitsa;
nzeru za anthu anzeru zidzatha,
luntha la anthu aluntha Ine ndidzalinyoza.”
15Tsoka kwa amene amayesetsa
kubisira Yehova maganizo awo,
amene amachita ntchito zawo mu mdima nʼkumanena kuti,
“Ndani amene akundiona kapena ndani akudziwa zimene ndikuchita?”
16Inu mumazondotsa zinthu
ngati kuti dothi lasanduka wowumba mbiya.
Kodi chinthu chopangidwa chingawuze wochipanga kuti
“Sunandipange ndi iwe?”
Kapena mʼphika kunena kwa amene anawuwumba kuti,
“Iwe sudziwa chilichonse?”
17Kodi Lebanoni posachedwapa sadzasanduka munda wachonde,
ndipo kodi munda wachondewo ngati nkhalango?
18Tsiku limenelo anthu osamva adzamva mawu a mʼbuku,
ndipo anthu osaona amene
ankakhala mu mdima adzapenya.
19Anthu odzichepetsa adzakhalanso ndi chimwemwe mwa Yehova;
ndipo anthu osowa adzakondwa chifukwa cha Woyerayo wa Israeli.
20Koma anthu ankhanza adzazimirira,
oseka anzawo sadzaonekanso,
ndipo onse okopeka ndi zoyipa adzawonongedwa.
21Yehova adzalanga amene amasinjirira munthu kuti apezeke wolakwa,
kapena kuphophonyetsa anthu ozenga mlandu
ndi umboni wonama kuti osalakwa asaweruzidwe mwachilungamo.
22Choncho Yehova amene anawombola Abrahamu, akunena kwa zidzukulu za Yakobo kuti,
“Anthu anga sadzachitanso manyazi;
nkhope zawo sizidzagwanso ndi manyazi.
23Akadzaona ana awo ndi
ntchito ya manja anga pakati pawo,
adzatamanda dzina langa loyera;
adzazindikira kuyera kwa Woyerayo wa Yakobo,
ndipo adzachita naye mantha Mulungu wa Israeli.
24Anthu opusa adzapeza nzeru;
onyinyirika adzalandira malangizo.”