Jeremia tu umbilwa momuthima
1 Shefatia yaMattan, Gedalia yaPashhur, Jukal yaShelemia naPashhur yaMalkija oya kundana sho nda li tandi lombwele aantu kutya 2 Omuwa okwa ti: “Shaa ngoka ta kala moshilando shika, ota ka dhipagelwa molugodhi nenge ta si kondjala nenge kelega. Ihe shaa ngoka ta piti mo noti igandja kAababilonia, ita ka dhipagwa; ote ki ilikolela omwenyo gwe.” 3 Onda li wo tandi ya lombwele kutya Omuwa okwa ti: “Otandi ka gandja oshilando shika miikaha yetangakwiita lyaBabilon, oyo notaye shi kwata po.”
4 Omalenga oga yi komukwaniilwa e taga ti: “Omulumentu nguka oku na okudhipagwa. Mokupopya iinima ya tya ngaaka ota tyololokitha aakwiita moshilando nosho wo aantu ayehe ye li mo. Ita kwatha aantu, ote ya hepeke owala.”
5 Omukwaniilwa Sedekia okwa yamukula a ti: “Onawa, mu ningeni ngaashi mwa hala, itandi vulu oku mu keelela.” 6 Oya kutha ndje po noya kulukithile ndje noongodhi momuthima gwomuna gwokombanda Malkija, ngoka gwa li kaagu na omeya, enono alike, nonda ningine menono.
7 Ihe Omuetiopia Ebedmelek, omuthonwantu ngoka a li ha yakula muuwa, okwe shi uvu kutya oyu umbila ndje momuthima. Pethimbo ndyoka omukwaniilwa okwa li ta pulakene iihokolola posheelo shaBenjamin. 8 Ebedmelek okwa yi ko e ta ti komukwaniilwa: 9 “Nkeyama, aantu mbaka oya ningi nayi. Oya tula Jeremia momuthima; ota ka sila mo kondjala, oshoka moshilando kamu na we iikulya.” 10 Omukwaniilwa okwa lombwele Ebedmelek a kuthe aalumentu yatatu, ya hile ndje mo momuthima, manga inaandi sa. 11 Ebedmelek okwa yi naalumentu mboka koompungulo dhuuwa e ta kutha iilapi yimwe ya kulupa, mbyoka a kulukithile ndje yi li koongodhi. 12 Okwa lombwele ndje, ndi tule iinyanyu mbyoka moonkwapa dhandje, opo oongodhi dhaa ehameke ndje. Onde shi ningi, 13 oyo noya hili ndje mo momuthima. Konima yaambika onda kala molugumbo lwomalangelo.
Sedekia ta kundathana naJeremia lwahugunina
14 Pethimbo ekwawo omukwaniilwa Sedekia okwi ithanene ndje kuye posheelo oshititatu shotempeli e ta ti: “Otandi ke ku pula epulo, ihe onda hala u lombwele ndje oshililela.”
15 Onda yamukula nda ti: “Ngele otandi ku lombwele oshililela, oto ka dhipaga ndje, nongele otandi ku tsu omayele, ngoye ito pupu ko nando.”
16 Omukwaniilwa Sedekia okwa uvanekele ndje ongumitila a ti: “Otandi gana kuKalunga omunamwenyo, Kalunga ngoka e tu pa omwenyo kutya itandi ke ku dhipaga nando nenge ndi ku gandje miikaha yaantu mboka ya hala oku ku dhipaga.”
17 Onda hokololele Sedekia kutya Omuwa Omunankondoawike, Kalunga kaIsrael, okwa ti: “Ngele oto igandja miikaha yomalenga gomukwaniilwa gwaBabilon, omwenyo gwoye otagu ka hupithwa, noshilando shika itashi ka fikwa po. Amuhe noyaandjeni otamu ka hupithwa. 18 Ihe ngele ito igandja, oshilando shika otashi ka gandjwa miikaha yAababilonia, notaye ke shi fika po. Nangoye wo ito hunuka mo miikaha yawo.”
19 Omukwaniilwa okwa yamukula a ti: “Onda tila Aajuda mboka ya yi kAababilonia. Ote ningi ndi gandjwe miikaha yawo notaa ka hepeka ndje.”
20 Onda ti: “Ito ka gandjwa miikaha yawo. Otandi ku galikana, u vulike kelaka lyOmuwa; nena oto kala nawa, nomwenyo gwoye otagu hupithwa. 21 Omuwa okwa hololele ndje memoniko shoka tashi ka ningwa, ngele to tindi okwiigandja. 22 Onda mono kutya aakiintu ayehe ya thigala muuwa waJuda, otaa falwa ya ye komalenga gomukwaniilwa gwaBabilon. Pulakena shoka taa ti, sho taa yi:
‘Ookuume komukwaniilwa oye mu pukitha,
oye mu gwililile po.
Ngashingeyi oompadhi dhe odha ningine menono,
ookuume ke oye mu thigi po.’ ”
23 Onda gwedha ko nda ti: “Aakulukadhi yoye ayehe pamwe naanona otaa ka falwa kuBabilon, nangoye mwene ito ka hunuka mo miikaha yawo. Oto ka kwatwa po onkwatwa komukwaniilwa gwaBabilon, noshilando shika otashi ka fikwa po.”
24 Sedekia okwa yamukula a ti: “Ino yakela ko tuu nando omuntu koonkundathana ndhika; ngele to shi ningi, oto si. 25 Omalenga ngele ge shi uvu kutya otwa kundathana nangoye, otage ke ya notaga pula shoka twa li tatu popi. Otaga ka uvaneka kutya itage ku dhipaga, ngele to ga hokololele adhihe. 26 Ga lombwela kutya owa galikana ndje, ndaaye ku shune we mondjedhililo, u sile mo.” 27 Omalenga oge ya noga pula ndje, nonde ga lombwele naanaa shoka omukwaniilwa a lombwele ndje ndi popye. Kaga li we taga vulu sha shilwe, oshoka kaku na ngoka u uvu oonkundathana dhetu. 28 Onda kala molugumbo lwomalangelo, sigo Jerusalem sha kwatwa po.
Jeremiah Is Held Prisoner in a Dry Well
1 One day, Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jehucal, and Pashhur heard me tell the people of Judah 2-3 that the Lord had said, “If you stay here in Jerusalem, you will die in battle or from disease or hunger, and the Babylonian army will capture the city anyway. But if you surrender to the Babylonians, they will let you live.”
4 So the four of them went to the king and said, “You should put Jeremiah to death, because he is making the soldiers and everyone else lose hope. He isn't trying to help our people; he's trying to harm them.”
5 Zedekiah replied, “Do what you want with him. I can't stop you.”
6 Then they took me back to the courtyard of the palace guards and let me down with ropes into the well that belonged to Malchiah, the king's son. There was no water in the well, but I sank down in the mud.
7-8 Ebedmelech from Ethiopia was an official at the palace, and he heard what they had done to me. So he went to speak with King Zedekiah, who was holding court at Benjamin Gate. 9 Ebedmelech said, “Your Majesty, Jeremiah is a prophet, and those men were wrong to throw him into a well. And when Jerusalem runs out of food, Jeremiah will starve to death down there.”
10 Zedekiah answered, “Take 30 of my soldiers and pull Jeremiah out before he dies.”
11 Ebedmelech and the soldiers went to the palace and got some rags from the room under the treasury. He used ropes to lower them into the well. 12 Then he said, “Put these rags under your arms so the ropes won't hurt you.” After I did, 13 the men pulled me out. And from then on, I was kept in the courtyard of the palace guards.
King Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah
14 King Zedekiah had me brought to his private entrance to the temple, and he said, “I'm going to ask you something, and I want to know the truth.”
15 “Why?” I replied. “You won't listen, and you might even have me killed!”
16 He said, “I swear in the name of the living Lord our Creator that I won't have you killed. No one else can hear what we say, and I won't let anyone kill you.”
17 Then I told him that the Lord had said: “Zedekiah, I am the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel. I promise that if you surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar's officers, you and your family won't be killed, and Jerusalem won't be burned down. 18 But if you don't surrender, I will let the Babylonian army capture Jerusalem and burn it down, and you will be taken prisoner.”
19 Zedekiah answered, “I can't surrender to the Babylonians. I'm too afraid of the people of Judah who have already joined them. The Babylonians might hand me over to them, and they would torture me.”
20 I said, “If you will just obey the Lord, the Babylonians won't hand you over to those Jews. You will be allowed to live, and all will go well for you. 21 But the Lord has shown me that if you refuse to obey, 22 then the women of your palace will be taken prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar's officials. And those women will say to you:
Friends you trusted led you astray.
Now you're trapped in mud,
and those friends you trusted
have all turned away.
23 The Babylonian army will take your wives and children captive, you will be taken as a prisoner to the King of Babylonia, and Jerusalem will be burned down.”
24 Zedekiah said, “Jeremiah, if you tell anyone what we have talked about, you might lose your life. 25 And I'm sure that if my officials hear about our meeting, they will ask you what we said to each other. They might even threaten to kill you if you don't tell them. 26 So if they question you, tell them you were begging me not to send you back to the prison at Jonathan's house, because going back there would kill you.”
27 The officials did come and question me about my meeting with the king, and I told them exactly what he had ordered me to say. They never spoke to me about the meeting again, since no one had heard us talking.
28 I was held in the courtyard of the palace guards until the day Jerusalem was captured.
