< Jeremiah 19 >

1 Thus said Yahweh, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen container, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;
Lokhu yikho akutshoyo uThixo: “Hamba uyethenga udiwo kumbumbi wezimbiza. Thatha abanye abadala babantu labanye babaphristi
2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.
uhambe labo esigodini seBheni-Hinomu, eduze lentuba yeSango loDengezi. Umemezele amazwi engikutshela wona,
3 Say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle.
uthi, ‘Zwanini ilizwi likaThixo, lina makhosi akoJuda lani bantu abahlala eJerusalema. UThixo uSomandla, uNkulunkulu ka-Israyeli, uthi: Lalelani! Ngizaletha umonakalo kule indawo ozabanda indlebe zomuntu wonke owuzwayo.
4 Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know—they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah—and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
Ngoba bangidelile kwathi indawo le bayenza eyabonkulunkulu bezizweni; kuyo batshisele imihlatshelo onkulunkulu abangabaziyo, bona labokhokho babo kanye lamakhosi akoJuda, njalo indawo le sebayigcwalisa igazi labantu abangelacala.
5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I didn’t command, nor speak, which didn’t even enter into my mind.
Sebakhele uBhali izindawo eziphakemeyo ukuba batshise amadodana abo emlilweni njengeminikelo yokutshiswa kuBhali, into engingazange ngibalaye kumbe ngitsho ukuthi bayenze, kumbe ukuthi ike ifike engqondweni yami.
6 Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.
Ngakho qaphelani, insuku ziyeza, kutsho uThixo, lapho abantu bengayikubiza indawo le ngokuthi Thofethi loba iSigodi seBheni-Hinomu kodwa iSigodi sokuBulala.
7 “‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.
Kuyonale indawo ngizawachitha amacebo kaJuda laweJerusalema. Ngizabenza bafe ngenkemba phambi kwezitha zabo, lasezandleni zalabo abafuna ukubabulala, njalo ngizanikela izidumbu zabo ukuba zibe yikudla kwezinyoni zasemoyeni lezinyamazana zeganga.
8 I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
Idolobho leli ngizalichitha ngilenze libe yinto yokwesatshwa lenhlekisa; bonke abadlula khona bazathuthumela njalo baklolode ngenxa yamanxeba alo wonke.
9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will each eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’
Ngizabenza badle inyama yamadodana abo leyamadodakazi abo, njalo labo bazadlana inyama ngesikhathi esinzima sokuvinjezelwa kwabo yizitha ezifuna ukubabulala.’
10 “Then you shall break the container in the sight of the men who go with you,
Emva kwalokho bulala udiwo labo abahamba lawe bekhangele,
11 and shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “Even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.
ubususithi kubo, ‘UThixo uSomandla uthi: Ngizasiphahlaza isizwe lesi kanye ledolobho leli njengokuphahlazwa kodiwo lombumbi lolu olungeke lulungiswe futhi. Abafileyo bazabangcwaba eThofethi kuze kusweleke indawo.
12 This is what I will do to this place,” says Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth.
Lokhu yikho engizakwenza kule indawo lakulabo abahlala lapha, kutsho uThixo. Idolobho leli ngizalenza lifanane leThofethi.
13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”
Izindlu zaseJerusalema kanye lezamakhosi akoJuda zizangcoliswa njengale indawo, iThofethi, zonke izindlu lapho abazatshisela khona impepha phezu kwezimpahla kuwo wonke amaxuku ezinkanyezi, bathelela abanye onkulunkulu umnikelo wokunathwayo.’”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the people:
UJeremiya wabuya evela eThofethi, lapho uThixo ayemthume ukuyaphrofetha khona, wasesima egumeni lethempeli likaThixo wathi ebantwini bonke,
15 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”
“UThixo uSomandla, uNkulunkulu ka-Israyeli, uthi: ‘Lalelani! Ngizakwehlisela kulelidolobho lasemizini elizungezileyo wonke umonakalo engawutshoyo, ngoba izintamo zabo zilukhuni njalo bayala ukulalela amazwi ami.’”

< Jeremiah 19 >