Ntembezelo we mbakililo
1 Takahwa nge dzedu zebe, Ndzimu,
bobatategulu bedu bakatibudza,
mishingo yamakashinga mu misi yabo,
mu mazhuba a ntolo.
2 Imwi nge maboko enyu makatata tjaba,
koga ibo mukabadzikila,
makadziyidza njudzi,
koga ibo mukabasunungula.
3 Abazotapa shango nge mathumo abo
ne tjiazha tjabo atjizobapa kukunda
koga nge tjiazha tjenyu tje luji ne luboko gwenyu
ne tjedza tje buso gwenyu,
ngoti makabashathila.
4 Imwi mu mambo wangu ne Ndzimu wangu,
ndimwi munolaula kuti Jakubo akunde.
5 Nge simba lenyu toligila pasi zwita zwedu,
nge zina lenyu totshambila pasi banogwa naswi.
6 Ngoti anditogalabgwe mu dati langu,
kene thumo langu alinganditjidze.
7 Koga makatigwila mu zwita zwedu,
mukashanganya misholo ye banotibenga.
8 Todwilila tizwikudza mu Ndzimu,
kakale towoboka zina lenyu nge kusingapele.
9 Koga makatilasha mukatiyisa pasi,
amuzoyenda ne babhayani bedu.
10 Makathama kuti titizhe zwita zwedu,
zwita zwedu zwakatapa thundu dzedu.
11 Makatithama tikanga pkhwizi dzinobhayiwa,
mukatipaladza nge zwitjaba.
12 Makatengesa bathu benyu nge themba isi ye tjimwe,
kusina tjinomubuyila mu thengeso yabo.
13 Makatithama sapa le babakidzani bedu,
todadigwa ndi ibabo bakatipoteleka.
14 Makatithama tikabe sumo mu zwitjaba,
tabe iseko pakati kwe bathu.
15 Zhuba lose ndolengudzika,
ne shoni dzandikombola,
16 ngekwe matama e batukani ne badadili,
nge kubona tjita ne mbuzuludzi.
17 Kose ikoku kwakadelukila mutili,
nenguba tisakamukangang'wa,
kene kuli kushandukila tjidumano tjenyu.
18 Mimoyo yedu ayizoshandukila shule,
ne makumbo edu aazobhuda mu zila yenyu,
19 kwamungabe makativunilila mu tjimo tje phungubgwe,
makatifukidza nge zhalima gulu.
20 Ha tabe takakangang'wa zina le Ndzimu,
kene takanamata ndzimu upoga.
21 Apa Ndzimu wabe usingake ukaziba ikoku kene?
Ngobe unoziba zwikohwa zwe moyo.
22 Tobulawa zhuba lose nge kwenyu,
tonga pkhwizi dzinobhayiwa.
23 Muzwimuse! Mulelileni, She?
Mukani, musitilashile tjose!
24 Ini musumbika buso gwenyu?
Ini mukangang'wa dziyidzika kwedu
ne kutshambilidzwa kwedu?
25 Tatjibhubama mu hwuluba,
mibili yedu yakakokomela pasi
26 Milikani muzhe kuwotibhatsha,
mutitjidze, muthamila ludo gwenyu gusingazunguzike.
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!