Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you.

Even so, let me speak my claims with you.

Why does the way of the wicked succeed?

All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.

²Not only do you plant them, they take root.

They grow, but also they produce fruit.

You are near in their mouths,

but far from their inmost beings.^a

³But you, O Yahweh, you know me,

you see me, and you test that my heart is with you.

Tear them apart like sheep for the slaughtering,

and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

⁴How long^b will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up,

because of the wickedness of those who live in it?

The animals and the birds^c are swept away,

because they have said, “He does not see our future.”

The Lord’s Reply

⁵“If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary,

then how will you compete with horses?

If you have fallen in a peaceful land,^d

then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

⁶For even your relatives, and the house of your father,

even they have dealt treacherously with you,

even they call loudly^e after you.

You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.

⁷I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance.

I have given the beloved one of my heart^f into the hand of her enemies.

⁸My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest.

She has lifted up against me her voice; therefore^g I hate her.

⁹The lair of the hyena is my inheritance to me,

the birds of prey^h are all around her.

Go, gather all of the animalsⁱ of the field,

bring them to come and devour.^j

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,

they have trampled down my plot of land.

They have made my pleasant field^k

like the desert^l of desolation.

¹¹They have made it a desolation.

Desolate, it mourns to me.

All the land is made desolate,

but there is no person taking it to heart.

¹²Upon all the barren heights in the desert^m destroyers have come,

for the sword of Yahweh devours,

from one end of the land to the other end of the land,

there is no peace for all flesh.

¹³They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns.

They are exhausted, they do not profit.

And they will be ashamed of your produce,

because of the burning angerⁿ of Yahweh.”

¹⁴Thus says Yahweh concerning all of the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I gave as an inheritance to my people Israel: “Look, I am about to drive them out from their land, and the house of Judah I will drive out from among them. ¹⁵And then^o after my driving them out, I will once again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land. ¹⁶And then,^p if they diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘as Yahweh lives,’^q even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will live in the midst of my people. ¹⁷But if they do not listen, then I will completely uproot and destroy that nation.”^r declares^s Yahweh.