1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru-hamah. 2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. 4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. 5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
6 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. 9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. 17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. 19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; 22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. 23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
1 “Bakulu babo be tjilume uti ku bali, ‘Bathu bangu’ ku hazwadzi dzidzo uti, ‘Bahwigwazogwadza.’ ”
Iziraela ayitogalikabgwe
2 “Tjemelani mme benyu, mubatjemele,
ngoti ate bali nkadzi wangu
nami atendili nlume wabo.
Ngabaduse ndingo ye bufukula mu tjiso tjabo,
ne bupombgwe baguduse pakati kwe mazhamu abo.
3 Kusajalo ndowobaambula bakasala basakambala
ndibathama mbujo kufanana ne zhuba labakazwagwa,
ndowobathama bakanga tjilambanyika,
ndibashandula bebe shango yakatshwa nge zhuba,
ndibe ndibabulaya nge nyota.
4 Anditowohwila zogwadza bana babe,
ngoti bana be bupombgwe.
5 Ngobe mme babo abazotongogalikabgwe
babakazwisenga nge mabhatisa shoni.
Ngobe bakazwidwa bakati, ‘Ndowotobela badiwa bangu,
ibo banondipa zojiwa zwangu ne vula yangu,
banondipa wulu yangu ne jila langu ne mafuta angu ne tjing'o tjangu.’
6 Ndizo ikweno ndowozwina zila yabo nge mihwa,
ngono ndowobaka guma linobadzibila,
kuyita kuti basitongo bona zila dzabo.
7 Banowolonda badi babo koga bakasitongobabhata,
banowobashaka koga bakasibabone.
Ipapo banowoti,
‘Ndobgwilila ku nlume wangu we kutanga,
ngoti ndakabe ndiyita kupinda ngwenu.’
8 Abatoziba kuti ndimi ndakabapa
mathunde ne nkumbi we zhambi ne mafuta,
kuti ndimi ndakabe ndimbutitikila siliva ne golide
zwabakashingisa muna Bhaale.”
9 Ndizo wali ndowotola
mathunde angu pa kuvung'wa,
ne nkumbi we zhambi mu tjibaka tjawo.
Ndowotola wulu yangu ne jila langu,
zwababe bakafanila kusungila.
10 Ndowobambula mbeli kwe badi babo
bakasala bali mbujo mu mesho abo,
akuna ungabagwila mu maboko angu.
11 Ndowomisa kushatha kwabo kose,
mizano yabo ye gole ne gole neye Mwedzi ugala,
na bo Sabata babo, mizano yose yakabigwa.
12 “Ndowothukudza mizhambi yabo ne mipaya yabo
yabakati ngekwayo
‘Ikoku i ndipo yangu
yandakapiwa ne badi bangu.’
Ndoyithama ishakana,
ngono phuka dze shango dzowoyija.”
13 Ndowobalobela mazhuba e mizano yaakathamila bo Bhaale
be bapisila motsha,
bezwinakisa nge mang'ina ne ndalama,
besalana shule ne badi babo
imi bendikangang'wa, koleba Yahwe.
14 “Ndizo wali bonani ndowobawonga
abayisa ku tjilambanyika,
abe ndilebeleka nabo nge ludo.
15 Kudwa ikoko ndowobagwilizila minda yabo ye mizhambi,
ngono ndowothama Nkuku wa Akhori nkoba we kugalabgwe.
Ikoko banowondiamutjila sekwa bakathama mu mazhuba e butjetjana gwabo,
se mu mazhuba abakabhuda mu shango ye Egipiti.
16 “Mu zhuba ilelo, koleba Yahwe,
unowondidana uti, ‘Nlume wangu,’
autowobe utjati, ‘Bhaale wangu.’
17 Ndowodusa mazina abo Bhaale mu nlomo wabo,
mazina abo aatjowofa adang'wa kakale.
18 Mu zhuba ilelo ndowobathamila tjidumano
ibo ne phuka dze shango ne nyuni dzinowuluka
ne zwibumbiwa zwinokambayila pasi.
Dati ne thumo ne ngwa
ndowozwipedza mu shango,
ndizo kuti mose mowogala nge kusununguka.
19 Ndowokubigilidza nge kusingapele,
ndowokubigilidza nge ndulamo nenge kutambunuka
mu ludo gusingazunguzike nenge mahwilongoni.
20 Ndowokubigilidza nge kugalikabgwe,
ngono unowoziba Yahwe.
21 “Mu zhuba ilelo ndowodabila koleba Yahwe,
ndowodabila kudzimu,
kudzimu kowodabila shango,
22 ngono shango inowodabila mathunde, nkumbi ne mafuta,
izwezwi zowodabila Jezirele.
23 Ndowobazwidzikilila mu shango,
ndowohwila ngoni bandakadana nditi,
‘Handitjowohwila ngoni.’
Ngono ndowodwa bandakadana nditi,
‘Amute muli bathu bangu,’ nditi ‘Mu bathu bangu,’
ngono ibo banowoti, ‘Imwi mu Ndzimu wangu.’ ”