Jeremiah 12–13

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12You will be righteous, Lord, ^t

even if I bring a case against You.

Yet, I wish to contend with You: ^u

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? ^v

Why do all the treacherous live at ease?

²You planted them, ^wand they have taken root.

They have grown and produced fruit.

You are ever on their lips, ^x

but far from their conscience. ^yz

³As for You, Lord, You know me; You see me. ^a

You test whether my heart is with You. ^b

Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter ^c

and set them apart for the day of killing.

⁴How long will the land mourn ^d

and the grass of every field wither?

Because of the evil of its residents,

animals and birds have been swept away, ^e

for the people have said,

“He cannot see what our end will be.” ^fg

The Lord’s Response

⁵If you have raced with runners

and they have worn you out,

how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble ^hin a peaceful land,

what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? ⁱ

⁶Even your brothers—your own father’s household—

even they were treacherous to you; ^j

even they have cried out loudly after you. ^k

Do not have confidence in them,

though they speak well of you.

⁷I have abandoned My house; ^l

I have deserted My inheritance.

I have given the love of My life

into the hands of her enemies.

⁸My inheritance has acted toward Me

like a lion in the forest.

She has roared against Me.

Therefore, I hate her. ^m

⁹Is My inheritance like a hyena ⁿto Me?

Are birds of prey circling her?

Go, gather all the wild animals; ^o

bring them to devour her.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;

they have trampled My plot of land. ^p

They have turned My desirable plot

into a desolate wasteland.

¹¹They have made it a desolation.

It mourns, desolate, before Me.

All the land is desolate,

but no one takes it to heart. ^q

¹²Over all the barren heights in the wilderness

the destroyers have come,

for the Lord has a sword that devours

from one end of the earth to the other.

No one has peace. ^r

¹³They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. ^s

They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. ^t

Be put to shame by your harvests

because of the Lord’s burning anger. ^u

¹⁴This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them ^vfrom their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them. ¹⁵After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion ^won them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. ¹⁶If they will diligently learn the ways of My people ^x—to swear by My name, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among My people. ¹⁷However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.” ^y

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Linen Underwear

13This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment ^zand put it on, ^abut do not put it in water.” ²So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.

³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: ⁴“Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, ^band go at once to the Euphrates ^cand hide it in a rocky crevice.” ^d5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem. ^e10These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, ^fand who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all. ¹¹Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me” ^g—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, ^hbut they would not obey.

The Wine Jars

¹²“Say this to them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, ‘Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ ¹³And you will say to them: This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. ¹⁴I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.” ⁱ

The Lord’s Warning

¹⁵Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,

for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God ^j

before He brings darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the mountains at dusk.

You wait for light,

but He brings darkest gloom ^k

and makes thick darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not listen,

my innermost being will weep in secret

because of your pride.

My eyes will overflow with tears,

for the Lord’s flock ^lhas been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother: ^m

Take a humble seat,

for your glorious crowns

have fallen from your heads.

¹⁹The cities of the Negev are under siege;

no one can help them.

All of Judah has been taken into exile,

taken completely into exile.

²⁰Look up and see

those coming from the north. ⁿ

Where is the flock entrusted to you,

the sheep that were your pride?

The Destiny of Jerusalem

²¹What will you say when He appoints

close friends as leaders over you,

ones you yourself trained?

Won’t labor pains seize you, ^o

as they do a woman in labor?

²²And when you ask yourself,

“Why have these things happened to me?”

It is because of your great guilt ^p

that your skirts have been stripped off, ^q

your body exposed. ^r

²³Can the Cushite change his skin,

or a leopard his spots?

If so, you might be able to do what is good, ^s

you who are instructed in evil.

²⁴I will scatter you ^tlike drifting chaff ^u

before the desert wind.

²⁵This is your lot,

what I have decreed for you—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

because you have forgotten Me ^v

and trusted in Falsehood. ^wx

²⁶I will pull your skirts up over your face

so that your shame might be seen. ^y

²⁷Your adulteries and your lustful neighing, ^z

your heinous prostitution

on the hills, in the fields—

I have seen your detestable acts.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

You are unclean—

for how long yet? ^a