Jeremías 12

1 Justo eres Tú, oh Yahvé; por eso no puedo contender contigo; sin embargo déjame hablar de justicia. ¿Por qué es próspero el camino de los malvados y viven tranquilos todos los pérfidos?

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?

2 Tú los plantaste, y ellos se han arraigado, crecen y producen fruto; te tienen en su boca, pero lejos de Ti está su corazón.

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.

3 Mas Tú, Yahvé, me conoces; me ves y sondeas lo que pienso de Ti. Arráncalos, como ovejas destinadas para el matadero, prepáralos para el día de la matanza.

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!

4 ¿Hasta cuándo ha de llorar la tierra, han de secarse las plantas de todos los campos? A causa de la maldad de los que allí habitan perecen las bestias y las aves; por cuanto dijeron: “No verá Él nuestro fin.”

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)!”

5 “Si tú corriendo con gente de a pie te fatigas, ¿cómo competirás con (los de a) caballo? Y si (apenas) en una tierra de paz te sientes seguro, ¿qué harás en los matorrales del Jordán?

[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]?

6 Porque tus mismos hermanos y la casa de tu padre, aun estos te han traicionado; ellos mismos te persiguen con fuertes gritos; no te fíes de ellos cuando te traten con buenas palabras.”

[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!

7 “He desamparado mi casa, he desechado mi heredad; he entregado el objeto de mi amor en manos de sus enemigos.

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.

8 Mi heredad ha venido a ser para Mí como un león en el bosque, que ruge contra Mí; por eso la aborrezco.

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.

9 ¿No es mi heredad para Mí ave de rapiña de varios colores, contra la cual se juntan otras aves de rapiña? ¡Andad, pues, y congregad a todas las fieras del campo; traedlas para que la devoren!

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].

10 Muchos pastores han destruido mi viña; han pisoteado mi heredad; han convertido mi deliciosa posesión en un desierto desolado.

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.

11 La asolaron por completo, triste está ella delante de Mí; desolado y devastado está todo el país, sin que haya quien reflexione en su corazón.”

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.

12 Sobre todos los collados del desierto vienen los devastadores: porque la espada de Yahvé devora la tierra desde un confín al otro, y no habrá salvación para carne alguna.

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.

13 Sembraron trigo y cosecharon espinas, se han fatigado sin sacar provecho. Avergonzaos de vuestras cosechas, a causa de la ardiente ira de Yahvé.

[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].”

14 Así dice Yahvé contra todos mis malos vecinos que atacan la heredad que Yo di en posesión a Israel, mi pueblo: “He aquí que los arrancaré de sus tierras, y sacaré a la casa de Judá de en medio de ellos.

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.

15 Mas después de haberlos arrancado, me apiadaré de nuevo de ellos, y los haré volver cada uno a su heredad, y cada cual a su tierra.

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.

16 Y cuando aprendan el camino de mi pueblo, de modo que juren por mi nombre: «Vive Yahvé», como enseñaron a mi pueblo a jurar por Baal, entonces serán establecidos en medio de mi pueblo.

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.

17 Pero si no quieren escuchar, arrancaré a tal nación, sí, la arrancaré y la destruiré” —oráculo de Yahvé.

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.”