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?
You [are] righteous, O YHWH, When I plead toward You, Only, let me speak judgments with You, Why did the way of the wicked prosper? All treacherous dealers have been at rest.
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.
You have planted them, Indeed, they have taken root, They go on, indeed, they have made fruit, You [are] near in their mouth, And far off from their reins.
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!
And You, O YHWH, You have known me, You see me, and have tried my heart with You, Draw them away as sheep to slaughter, And separate them for a 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)!”
Until when does the earth mourn, And the herb of the whole field wither? For the wickedness of those dwelling in it, Beast and bird have been consumed, Because they said, “He does 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]?
“For you have run with footmen, And they weary you, And how you fret yourself with horses! Even in the land of peace, [In which] you are confident—And how will you do in the rising of 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 your brothers and the house of your father, Even they dealt treacherously against you, Even they called after you fully, Do not trust in them when they speak good things to you.
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 left My inheritance, I have given the 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 inheritance has been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, 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 inheritance a speckled bird to Me? Is the bird around against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come for food.
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 destroyed My vineyard, They have trodden down My portion, They have made My desirable portion Become a wilderness—a desolation.
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.
He has made it become a desolation, The desolation has mourned to Me, All the land has been desolated, But there is no one laying 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.
Spoilers have come in on all high places in the plain, For the sword of YHWH is consuming, From the end of the land even to the end of the land, There is no peace to any flesh.
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 sowed wheat, and have reaped thorns, They have become sick—they do not profit, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of YHWH.”
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 said YHWH: “Concerning all My evil neighbors, who are striking against the inheritance that I caused My people—Israel—to inherit: Behold, I am plucking them from off their ground, And I pluck the house of Judah out of their midst.
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 has been, after My plucking them out, I turn back, and have pitied them, And I have brought them back, Each to his inheritance, and each 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 has come to pass, If they learn the ways of My people well, To swear by My Name, YHWH lives, As they taught My people to swear by Ba‘al, Then they have been 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.”
And if they do not listen, Then I have plucked up that nation, Plucking up and destroying,” A declaration of YHWH!
