A Warning to the Northern Kingdom
1 The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk. 2 The Lord has someone strong and powerful ready to attack them, someone who will come like a hailstorm, like a torrent of rain, like a rushing, overpowering flood, and will overwhelm the land. 3 The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot. 4 The fading glory of those proud leaders will disappear like the first figs of the season, picked and eaten as soon as they are ripe.
5 A day is coming when the Lord Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for his people who survive. 6 He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack.
Isaiah and the Drunken Prophets of Judah
7 Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them. 8 The tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is left.
9 They complain about me. They say, “Who does that man think he's teaching? Who needs his message? It's only good for babies that have just stopped nursing! 10 He is trying to teach us letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson.”
11 If you won't listen to me, then God will use foreigners speaking some strange-sounding language to teach you a lesson. 12 He offered rest and comfort to all of you, but you refused to listen to him. 13 That is why the Lord is going to teach you letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson. Then you will stumble with every step you take. You will be wounded, trapped, and taken prisoner.
A Cornerstone for Zion
14 Now you arrogant leaders who rule here in Jerusalem over this people, listen to what the Lord is saying. 15 You boast that you have made a treaty with death and reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and deceit to keep you safe. 16 This, now, is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am putting a solid cornerstone on which are written the words, ‘Faith that is firm is also patient.’ 17 Justice will be the measuring line for the foundation, and honesty will be its plumb line.”
Hailstorms will sweep away all the lies you depend on, and floods will destroy your security. 18 The treaty you have made with death will be abolished, and your agreement with the world of the dead will be canceled. When disaster sweeps down, you will be overcome. 19 It will strike you again and again, morning after morning. You will have to bear it day and night. Each new message from God will bring new terror! 20 You will be like the person in the proverb, who tries to sleep in a bed too short to stretch out on, with a blanket too narrow to wrap himself in. 21 The Lord will fight as he did at Mount Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon, in order to do what he intends to do—strange as his actions may seem. He will complete his work, his mysterious work.
22 Don't laugh at the warning I am giving you! If you do, it will be even harder for you to escape. I have heard the Lord Almighty's decision to destroy the whole country.
God's Wisdom
23 Listen to what I am saying; pay attention to what I am telling you. 24 Farmers don't constantly plow their fields and keep getting them ready for planting. 25 Once they have prepared the soil, they plant the seeds of herbs such as dill and cumin. They plant rows of wheat and barley, and at the edges of their fields they plant other grain. 26 They know how to do their work, because God has taught them. 27 They never use a heavy club to beat out dill seeds or cumin seeds; instead they use light sticks of the proper size. 28 They do not ruin the wheat by threshing it endlessly, and they know how to thresh it by driving a cart over it without bruising the grains. 29 All this wisdom comes from the Lord Almighty. The plans God makes are wise, and they always succeed.
Omaronga nOmakwizikiro kOuhona wOkomanene
1 Owee kekori rouhona rovahongore va Israel mba ṱomavinu! Ouwa waro wa kukuta tjimuna oruzenga rwozongara nḓe ri koviuru vyawo. Oviuru vyawo oviritongamise vya twirisiwa nomuṋuko omuwa, nungwari owo va saravara mbo ava kozewa i omavinu. 2 Muhona u na umwe omunamasa nomunauvara ngwe rirongerera okuverwisa, umwe ngu meya otja ozombawe zombura, notja ombura onamasa, notja omupupo mbu pupa amau rauka nomasa, neye otji meve vanda pehi. 3 Outongatima wovahongore va Israel, imba mba ṱomavinu, mau tombwa nozombaze. 4 Ounene wovahongore mba overitongamise mau zengi tjimuna omakuyu omatenga moruveze mu ye uta okuhora, tji ye porwa naye riwa tjimanga.
5 Eyuva mari ya, Muhona Omunamasaaehe mu ma kara otja ekori rouhona emanise notja oruzenga rwozongara ozomanise kovandu votjiwaṋa tje mba hupa. 6 Eye ma yandja ozondunge zokupangura ku imba mbe pangura, nomasa ku imba mbe yeura omivero vyotjihuro kovetjirwise.
Jesaja ma rongo ovapristeri novaprofete vakaseruseru
7 Nandarire ovapristeri novaprofete ve ṱomavinu, nga tji mave teratera. Owo ve nwa omavinu nomanuwa omazeu, nga tji mave putara mokupuruka. Ovaprofete ve ṱomavinu tjinene, nga tji ve ha tjiwa ovirimunikise Ndjambi mbye hinda, novapristeri wina ve ṱomavinu tjinene, nga tji ve ha sora okupangura oviposa mbi etwa ku wo. 8 Oviriro pu ve haama ovyo avihe vye ura novikungo, nu kape nopoṋa pu pe hi nombonḓi.
9 Owo ve unaunina ami ave tja: “Omurumendu ngo hapo u ripura kutja ma hongo uṋe? Owaṋi ngu hepa ombuze ye? Oyo ombwa kounatje mbwe kura nambano nai uriri! 10 Eye u kondja okutuhonga embo kembo, oruteto koruteto, otjirihongwa kotjirihongwa.”
11 Tji mu hi nokupuratena ku ami, Ndjambi ma hungirisa ovozonganda ozombosiro zomaraka wambangu kutja ve mu honge otjirihongwa. 12 Eye we mu kwizikira amuhe orusuvo nomahuhumiṋino, nungwari eṋe mwa panḓa okupuratena ku ye. 13 Muhona opu ma zu okumuhonga embo kembo, oruteto koruteto notjirihongwa kotjirihongwa. Komuhingo mbwi otji mamu putara momukambo ngamwa auhe mbu mamu kayenda. Mamu harisiwa ovirwaro, amu yatwa namu huurwa.
Ewe rotjikoro ra Sion
14 Nambano oweṋe vandu ovirangaranga, mbu mu honaparera otjiwaṋa hi muno mOjerusalem, purateneye ku imbi Muhona mbi ma hungire. 15 Eṋe mu rihiva aayo mwe rikuta kuna onḓiro, nu aayo mwa zuvasana notjovakoke. Eṋe mu ripura kutja omanyoneno tji ye ya, kaye nokuṱuna ku eṋe, orondu mwe riyameka kovizeze novineya kutja vi mu yame. 16 Nambano Muhona Ndjambi ma tja nai: “Tara, ami me twa po omazikameno mOsion, omazikameno omazeu nomanamasa. Mu wo ami me ziki mo ewe ehuze rotjikoro ku kwa tjangwa omambo nga: ‘Ngu nongamburiro ke nokuivaiva.’ 17 Ousemba ombu mau rire ongoze osaneke komazikameno nga, nouṱakame mau rire ongoze yokutunga.”
Ombura onḓeu yozombawe zombura mai kombozora ovizeze avihe ku mwe riyameka, nomipupo mavi pupu omaundiro weṋu. 18 Omerikutirokumwe ngu mwa tjita nonḓiro maye isiwa po, nomazuvasaneno weṋu notjovakoke maye teyewa. Onyoneno tji ya tukuruka, eṋe mamu nyanyaurwa. 19 Oyo mai mu tono aruhe, ngamwa imbwi omuhuka auhe. Eṋe mamu i tjindi omutenya nouṱuku. Ombuze aihe ombe, ndji mai zu ku Ndjambi, mai eta omburuma ombe! 20 Mamu sana nomundu momuano worive, ngu vanga okurara kotjiraro otjisupi tjinene me hi nokusora okutandavera, na motjikutjire otjimango okurikutjira na tjo. 21 Muhona ma sekama otja tja tjitire pondundu Perasim, nu ma pindike otja tja tjitire morutjandja rwa Gibeon, kokutja a tjite imbi mbye ripura okutjita, okutja ozondjito ze ozohimise. Eye ma yenenisa oviungura vye, oviungura vye ovihimise.
22 Amu nyekerere omaronga ngu me mu pe! Tji mwa tjiti nao, omberero yeṋu mai rire onḓeu tjinene ku eṋe. Ami mba zuva kutja Muhona Ndjambi Omunamasaaehe we rimanene okuyandeka ehi arihe.
Ounongo wa Ndjambi
23 Purateneye ku imbi mbi me hungire; yandjeye ombango ku imbi mbi me mu raere! 24 Kape nomukune ngu taura omahi we womakunino omayuva aehe okuyemanena okukuna. 25 Eye tja zu nokuṱuna omahi nga ma kunu ozondwi zoviyao ovitjatise; eye ma kunu ovirya novikokotwa, nu tjazumba kovikoro vyovikunino vye a kunu ko ozondwi zarwe. 26 Eye ma tjiwa okuungura oviungura vye, orondu Ndjambi we mu honga. 27 Eye ke nokuhepa okutoora ongwinya onḓeu okutona na yo inḓa ozondwi zoviyao ovitjatise; moruveze rwanao ma ungura nokati okapupu ku ka yenena. 28 Eye ke nokunyona ovikokotwa mokuvitonda nokuhinondjandero; neye tji ma hingire mo etemba rousino movikokotwa mbi, me vi tondo nokuhinokuvinyanyaura.
29 Ounongo mbwi auhe u za ku Muhona Omunamasaaehe. Ozondunge za Ndjambi ozohimise, nozo aruhe ze nondoṋeno!
