Jeremiah 12:5–17

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?

⁶For ^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.

^8aMy heritage has become to me

like a lion in the forest;

she has lifted up her voice against me;

therefore I hate her.

⁹Is ^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.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;

^ethey have trampled down my portion;

they have made my pleasant portion

a desolate wilderness.

¹¹They have made it a desolation;

desolate, ^uit mourns to me.

The whole land is made desolate,

^fbut no man lays it to heart.

¹²Upon 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.

^13gThey 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.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord concerning all ^jmy evil neighbors ^kwho touch the heritage that ^lI have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, ^mand I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, ⁿto swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, ^othen they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ^17pBut if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”