TUESDAY 12TH MAY 2020 MORNING
Isaiah 5:1-7 New International Version (NIV)
1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
God richly blessed and tended His "vineyard," the chosen people, giving them everything they needed to prosper. But instead of good grapes, God got wild grapes, abuse of rights and violence; so the vineyard must be completely pruned.
This judgment is not to be understood as God's need to punish or to get even with the sinful people. Judgment is the set of destructive consequences that result from the people's own choices. God is constantly loving and gracious.
JUMANNE TAREHE 12 MEI 2020 ASUBUHI
ISAYA 5:1-7
1 Na nimwimbie mpenzi wangu wimbo wa mpenzi wangu katika habari za shamba lake la mizabibu. Mpenzi wangu alikuwa na shamba la mizabibu, Kilimani penye kuzaa sana;
2 Akafanya handaki kulizunguka pande zote, Akatoa mawe yake, Akapanda ndani yake mzabibu ulio mzuri, Akajenga mnara katikati yake, Akachimba shinikizo ndani yake; Akatumaini ya kuwa utazaa zabibu, Nao ukazaa zabibu-mwitu.
3 Na sasa, enyi wenyeji wa Yerusalemu, nanyi watu wa Yuda, amueni, nawasihi, kati ya mimi na shamba langu la mizabibu.
4 Je! Ni kazi gani iliyoweza kutendeka ndani ya shamba langu la mizabibu nisiyoitenda? Basi, nilipotumaini ya kuwa litazaa zabibu, mbona lilizaa zabibu-mwitu?
5 Haya basi, sasa nitawaambieni nitakalolitenda shamba langu la mizabibu; nitaondoa kitalu chake, nalo litaliwa; nitabomoa ukuta wake, nalo litakanyagwa;
6 nami nitaliharibu; wala halitapogolewa wala kulimwa, bali litamea mbigili na miiba; nami nitayaamuru mawingu yasinyeshe mvua juu yake.
7 Kwa maana shamba la mizabibu la Bwana wa majeshi ndilo nyumba ya Israeli, na watu wa Yuda ni mche wake wa kupendeza; akatumaini kuona hukumu ya haki, na kumbe! Aliona dhuluma; alitumaini kuona haki, na kumbe! Alisikia kilio.
Mungu alilibariki na kulitunza “shamba lake la mizabibu”, yaani taifa lake teule, akawapa kila kitu walichohitaji ili waweze kufanikiwa. Lakini badala ya kuzaa zabibu njema, Mungu alipata zabibu mwitu, yaani upotoshaji wa haki za watu na ukatili dhidi yao. Kwa hiyo shamba hili lilihitaji kuvunjwa na kufanywa upya.
Hukumu hii haimaanishi kuwa Mungu anapenda tu kuwaadhibu watu wake au kupambana na watenda dhambi. Hukumu hii ni matokeo ya tabia ya uharibifu ambayo watu walichagua kuishi nayo. Mungu daima ni wa upendo, naye amejaa neema.
