A Prayer for Protection
1 With our own ears we have heard it, O God—
our ancestors have told us about it,
about the great things you did in their time,
in the days of long ago:
2 how you yourself drove out the heathen
and established your people in their land;
how you punished the other nations
and caused your own to prosper.
3 Your people did not conquer the land with their swords;
they did not win it by their own power;
it was by your power and your strength,
by the assurance of your presence,
which showed that you loved them.
4 You are my king and my God;
you give victory to your people,
5 and by your power we defeat our enemies.
6 I do not trust in my bow
or in my sword to save me;
7 but you have saved us from our enemies
and defeated those who hate us.
8 We will always praise you
and give thanks to you forever.
9 But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated;
you no longer march out with our armies.
10 You made us run from our enemies,
and they took for themselves what was ours.
11 You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep;
you scattered us in foreign countries.
12 You sold your own people for a small price
as though they had little value.
13 Our neighbors see what you did to us,
and they mock us and laugh at us.
14 You have made us a joke among the nations;
they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 I am always in disgrace;
I am covered with shame
16 from hearing the sneers and insults
of my enemies and those who hate me.
17 All this has happened to us,
even though we have not forgotten you
or broken the covenant you made with us.
18 We have not been disloyal to you;
we have not disobeyed your commands.
19 Yet you left us helpless among wild animals;
you abandoned us in deepest darkness.
20 If we had stopped worshiping our God
and prayed to a foreign god,
21 you would surely have discovered it,
because you know our secret thoughts.
22 But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time,
that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep?
Rouse yourself! Don't reject us forever!
24 Why are you hiding from us?
Don't forget our suffering and trouble!
25 We fall crushed to the ground;
we lie defeated in the dust.
26 Come to our aid!
Because of your constant love save us!
Okupula egameno
oshitewo kezimo lyaKora
1 Onomakutsi getu yene twe shi uvu, Kalunga —
ootate oye shi tu hokololele.
Oya popi iilonga iinene we yi longo pethimbo lyawo
opomasiku gonalenale.
2 Owa tidha po aapagani
nowa langeke aantu yoye mevi ndyoka we li ya pe.
Owa geele iigwana yilwe
nowa kaleke nawa aantu yoye.
3 Aantu yoye inaa kwata evi molwomagonga gawo,
inaa sindana koonkondo dhawo yene,
ihe okoonkondo nokomatha goye,
okeinekelo oku ku inekela,
oshoka owa li u ya hole.
4 Ongoye omukwaniilwa gwandje naKalunga kandje;
ongoye to pe aantu yoye esindano,
5 nokoonkondo dhoye tatu sindi aatondi yetu.
6 Ngame itandi inekele uutati wandje
nenge egonga lyandje, li hupithe ndje;
7 ihe ongoye we tu hupitha miikaha yaatondi yetu
nowa sitha aatondi yetu ohoni.
8 Otwa hala oku ku simaneka ethimbo kehe
notatu ku pandula sigo aluhe.
9 Ihe ngashingeyi owe tu ekelehi
nowe tu etha, tu sindike;
ito tidha po we aatondi yetu.
10 Owe tu etha, tu tidhwe kaatondi yetu
noyi ihakanene omaliko getu.
11 Owe tu etha, tu dhipagwe ongoonzi;
owe tu halakanithile muupongekwa.
12 Owa landitha po aantu yoye kombiliha,
ongo to tala kutya kaye na omupondo gwasha.
13 Aashiinda yetu oya mono shoka we tu ningile
notaye tu sheke e taye tu yolo.
14 Owe tu ningi oshiyolwa mokati kiigwana;
otaye tu tala nondhino taa pukapuka komitse.
15 Ngame ondi li momupya aluhe;
onda gugwa
16 kokuuva omanyenkelo nomasheko gaaniita nangame
naambo ye tonde ndje.
17 Ayihe mbika oye tu adha, nonando tse inatu ku dhimbwa
nenge tu teye ehangano ndyoka wa hangana natse.
18 Otwa kala aainekelwa yoye;
inatu kala inaatu vulika kiipango yoye.
19 Ihe ngoye owe tu ethele mokati kiiyamakuti;
owe tu thigi momilema thokothoko.
20 Ngele ando otwe ethele okugalikana Kalunga ketu
e tatu galikana oshikalunga shontumba,
21 nena ando owe shi dhimbulula,
oshoka omadhiladhilo getu gomonguwi owe ga tseya.
22 Ihe omolwoye tatu dhipagwa ethimbo alihe;
tatu ningwa ngaashi oonzi tadhi dhipagwa.
23 Omuwa, penduka!
Omolwashike wa kotha?
Yeluka! Ino tu ekelahi sigo aluhe!
24 Omolwashike to tu holama?
Ino dhimbwa okuhepekwa nuudhigu wetu!
25 Otwa hatwa pevi;
otwa lala montsi twa sindika.
26 Ila, u tu kwathe!
Tu hupitha omolwesilohenda lyoye!
