Jeremiah 12
1 Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy [about what is happening to me], you [always] act justly/fairly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing [that I do not understand]: Why are wicked people [often] very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest/wicked people?
Thou are righteous, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee. Yet I would reason the case with thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously?
2 You allow them to prosper like [MET] trees that grow tall and bear [a lot of] fruit. They [always] say [MTY] good things about you, but their hearts are [really] far from you.
Thou have planted them. Yea, they have taken root, they grow. Yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
3 But Yahweh, as for me, you know what is in my inner being. You see what I [do] and you are able to know what I am thinking. So drag away those [wicked] people, like [people drag away] sheep that they are going to butcher. Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!
But thou, O Jehovah, know me. Thou see me, and try my heart toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 This land is [RHQ] becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. The wild animals and the birds have [all] died because the people are [very] wicked. [All that has happened] because the people have said, “Yahweh does not know what we are doing (OR, what will happen to us)!”
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
5 [Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me], [“It is as though] you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you [stumble and] fall when you are running on open/bare/smooth ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thornbushes near the Jordan [River]?
If thou have run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how can thou contend with horses? And though in a land of peace thou are secure, yet how will thou do in the pride of the Jordan?
6 [Already] your brothers and [other members of] your own family oppose you. They (plot against/plan to do evil things to) you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them!
For even thy brothers, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.
7 I have abandoned my [Israeli] people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the Israeli people, whom I love.
I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My people have become to me like [SIM] a lion in the forest. [It is as though] they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them.
My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her.
9 My chosen people have [RHQ] become like speckled hawks that are surrounded by vultures [waiting to eat their flesh after they are dead]. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat [the flesh of their corpses].
Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour.
10 Many rulers [from other countries have come with their armies and] devastated/destroyed my people [whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his] vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives.
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have caused it to become completely empty; [it is as though] I hear the land crying sadly/mournfully. The whole land is desolate, and no one (worries about/pays any attention to) it.
They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.
12 The soldiers [of our enemies] have marched across all the barren hilltops. But [I], Yahweh, am using those armies [MTY] to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape.
Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness. For the sword of Jehovah devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace.
13 [It is as though] my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired [because of much hard work], but they have gained nothing [from all that work]. They will be very disappointed because their harvests [will be very small], [and that will happen] because [I], Yahweh, am extremely angry [with them].”
They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. And ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
14 This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “[I will punish] the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israeli people, and I will force them to leave their own land. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their land, also.
Thus says Jehovah against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.
15 But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each [clan] will come back to its own land.
And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. And I will bring them again, each man to his heritage, and each man to his land.
16 And if the people [of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel] learn the [religious] customs of my people, and if they learn that I [am listening] when they solemnly promise that they will do something good, like they taught my people to believe that [their god] Baal [was listening] when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people.
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah lives, even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Jehovah.
