Jeremiah 12
1 You are righteous, Yahweh, whenever I bring disputes to you. I must certainly tell you of my reason to complain: Why do the ways of the wicked succeed? All the faithless people are successful.
Lord, when I complain to you, you always show yourself to be in the right. Even so I still want to present my case to you. Why is it that wicked people do so well? Why do those who are unfaithful to you live so comfortably?
2 You planted them and they took root. They continue to produce fruit. You are near to them in their mouths, but far away from their hearts.
You planted them, and they've taken root, grown, and produced fruit. They're always talking about you but they don't think of you, even for a moment.
3 Yet you, Yahweh, know me. You see me and you test my heart toward you. Take them away like sheep to the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter!
But you know me, Lord, you see me, and examine what I think about you. Drag off these people like sheep to be slaughtered; keep them apart for the time when they're killed.
4 How long will the land go on drying up, and the plants in every field wither because of the wickedness of its inhabitants? The animals and the birds have been taken away. Indeed, the people say, “God will not see what happens to us.”
How long will the land have to mourn and the grass in every field be dried up because of the evil of the people who live there? The animals and birds have died out because the people have said, “He doesn't know what's going to happen to us.”
5 Yahweh said, “Indeed, if you, Jeremiah, have run with foot soldiers and they have tired you out, how can you compete against horses? If you fall down in the safe countryside, how will you do in the thickets along the Jordan?
The Lord says, Once you've become worn out in a foot race against men, how would you win racing against horses? If you trip up in open ground, how would you do in the tangled undergrowth beside the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and your father's family have betrayed you and have loudly denounced you. Do not trust in them, even if they say nice things to you.
Even your own brothers and your father's family have betrayed you; they have publicly criticized you. Don't trust them when they talk nicely to you!
7 I have abandoned my house; I have forsaken my inheritance. I have given my beloved into the hands of her enemies.
I have given up on my people; I have abandoned the nation I chose. I have handed over the ones I truly love to their enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in a thicket; she sets herself against me with her own voice, so I hate her.
They've turned into a wild lion, roaring at me—that's why I hate them.
9 Has not my prized possession become a speckled bird, that other birds of prey go against her all around? Go and gather all the wild beasts and bring them to devour her.
My people are like a spotted bird of prey to me with other birds of prey circling to attack it. Go and bring all the wild animals to eat up the carcass.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have stomped all over my portion of land; they turned my delightful portion into a wilderness, a desolation.
Many shepherds have come and destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down the crops in my field. They have turned my pleasant land into an empty wasteland.
11 They have made her a desolation. I mourn for her; she is desolate. All the land has been made desolate, for there is no one who takes it to heart.
They have made it into a desert; it mourns before me, lying desolate. The whole country is a wasteland, but no one cares.
12 Destroyers have come against all the bare places in the wilderness, for Yahweh's sword is devouring from one end of the land to the other. There is no safety in the land for any living creature.
The destructive armies have crossed all the bare desert hills for the Lord's sword destroys from one end of the country to the other. No one has any peace.
13 They have sown wheat but harvest thornbushes. They are exhausted from work but have gained nothing. So be ashamed of your gain because of Yahweh's anger.”
My people sowed wheat but harvested thorns. They wore themselves out but gained no benefit. You should be ashamed of such a poor harvest, caused by the Lord's furious anger.
14 Yahweh says this against all my neighbors, the wicked ones who strike at the possession that I made my people Israel inherit, “See, I am the one who is about to uproot them from their own ground, and I will pull up the house of Judah from among them.
This is what the Lord says: When it comes these evil nearby nations who attack the country that I gave to my people Israel, I'm going to uproot them from their land. I'm also going to uproot the people of Judah from among them.
15 Then after I uproot those nations, it will happen that I will have compassion on them and bring them back; I will return them—each man to his inheritance and his land.
However, once I have uprooted them, I will have mercy on them again, and bring each one back to their property and their land.
16 It will come about that if those nations carefully learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name 'As Yahweh lives' just as they have taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.
If they will honestly learn the ways of my people and respect me, making their vows to me, just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will do well among my people.
17 But if any do not listen, then I will uproot that nation. It will certainly be uprooted and destroyed—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
But if they refuse to obey, then I will not only uproot that nation but I will completely destroy it, declares the Lord.
