Jeremiah 12:5–13

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

5  “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,

how will you compete with horses?

And if in a safe land you are so trusting,

what will you do in xthe thicket of the Jordan?

6  For yeven your brothers and the house of your father,

oeven they have dealt treacherously with you;

they are in full cry after you;

zdo not believe them,

though they speak friendly words to you.”

7  “I have forsaken my house;

I have abandoned amy heritage;

I have given bthe beloved of my soul

into the hands of her enemies.

8  aMy heritage has become to me

like a lion in the forest;

she has lifted up her voice against me;

therefore I hate her.

9  Is amy heritage to me like ca hyena’s lair?

Are the cbirds of prey against her all around?

Go, dassemble all the wild beasts;

bring them to devour.

10  Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;

ethey have trampled down my portion;

they have made my pleasant portion

a desolate wilderness.

11  They have made it a desolation;

desolate, uit mourns to me.

The whole land is made desolate,

fbut no man lays it to heart.

12  Upon all the bare heights in the desert

destroyers have come,

for the sword of the Lord devours

from one end of the land to the other;

no flesh has peace.

13  gThey have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;

hthey have tired themselves out but profit nothing.

They shall be ashamed of their1 harvests

ibecause of the fierce anger of the Lord.”