Jeremiah 12–13

Jeremiah’s First Complaint

12Lord, when I bring my case to you,

you are always right.

But I want to ask you about the justice you give.

Why are evil people successful?

Why do dishonest people have such easy lives?

²You have put the evil people here

like plants with strong roots.

They grow and produce fruit.

With their mouths they speak well of you,

but their hearts are really far away from you.

³But you know my heart, Lord.

You see me and test my thoughts about you.

Drag the evil people away like sheep to be butchered.

Set them aside for the day of killing.

⁴How much longer will the land stay dried up

and the grass in every field be dead?

The animals and birds in the land have died,

because the people are evil.

Yes, they are even saying,

“God does not see what happens to us.”

The Lord’s Answer to Jeremiah

⁵“If you get tired while racing against people,

how can you race against horses?

If you stumble in a country that is safe,

what will you do in the thick thornbushes along the Jordan River?

⁶Even your own brothers and members of your own family

are making plans against you.

They are crying out against you.

Don’t trust them,

even when they say nice things to you!

⁷“I have left Israel;

I have left my people.

I have given the people I love

over to their enemies.

⁸My people have become to me

like a lion in the forest.

They roar at me,

so I hate them.

⁹My people have become to me

like a speckled bird attacked on all sides by hawks.

Go, gather the wild animals.

Bring them to get something to eat.

¹⁰Many shepherds have ruined my vineyards

and trampled the plants in my field.

They have turned my beautiful field

into an empty desert.

¹¹They have turned my field into a desert

that is wilted and dead.

The whole country is an empty desert,

because no one who lives there cares.

¹²Many soldiers have marched over those barren hills.

The Lord is using the armies to punish that land

from one end to the other.

No one is safe.

¹³The people have planted wheat,

but they have harvested only thorns.

They have worked hard until they were very tired,

but they have nothing for all their work.

They are ashamed of their poor harvest,

because the Lord’s terrible anger has caused this.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord said to me: “Here is what I will do to all my wicked neighbors who take the land I gave my people Israel. I will pull them up and throw them out of their land. And I will pull up the people of Judah from among them. ¹⁵But after I pull them up, I will feel sorry for them again. I will bring each person back to his own property and to his own land. ¹⁶I want them to learn their lessons well. In the past they taught my people to swear by Baal’s name. But if they will now learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives …’ I will allow them to rebuild among my people. ¹⁷But if a nation will not listen to my message, I will pull it up completely and destroy it,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Linen Belt

13This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist. Don’t let the belt get wet.”

²So I bought a linen belt, just as the Lord told me, and put it around my waist. ³Then the Lord spoke his word to me a second time: ⁴“Take the belt you bought and are wearing, and go to Perath. Hide the belt there in a crack in the rocks.” ⁵So I went to Perath and hid the belt there, just as the Lord told me.

⁶Many days later the Lord said to me, “Now go to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined; it was good for nothing.

⁸Then the Lord spoke his word to me. ⁹This is what the Lord said: “In the same way I will ruin the pride of the people of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰These evil people refuse to listen to my warnings. They stubbornly do only what they want to do, and they follow other gods to serve and worship them. So they will become like this linen belt—good for nothing. ¹¹As a belt is wrapped tightly around a person’s waist, I wrapped the families of Israel and Judah around me,” says the Lord. “I did that so they would be my people and bring fame, praise, and honor to me. But my people would not listen.

Warnings About Leather Wine Bags

¹²“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: All leather bags for holding wine should be filled with wine.’ People will say to you: ‘Of course, we know all wine bags should be filled with wine.’ ¹³Then you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will make everyone in this land like a drunken person—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests and the prophets, and all the people who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁴I will make them smash against one another, fathers and sons alike, says the Lord. I will not feel sorry or have pity on them or show mercy that would stop me from destroying them.’ ”

Threat of Slavery

¹⁵Listen and pay attention.

Don’t be too proud,

because the Lord has spoken to you.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings darkness

and before you slip and fall

on the dark hills.

You hope for light,

but he will turn it into thick darkness;

he will change it into deep gloom.

¹⁷If you don’t listen to him,

I will cry secretly

because of your pride.

I will cry painfully,

and my eyes will overflow with tears,

because the Lord’s people will be captured.

¹⁸Tell this to the king and the queen mother:

“Come down from your thrones,

because your beautiful crowns

have fallen from your heads.”

¹⁹The cities of southern Judah are locked up,

and no one can open them.

All Judah will be taken as captives to a foreign land;

they will be carried away completely.

²⁰Jerusalem, look up and see

the people coming from the north.

Where is the flock God gave you to care for,

the flock you bragged about?

²¹What will you say when they appoint as your heads

those you had thought were your friends?

Won’t you have much pain and trouble,

like a woman giving birth to a baby?

²²You might ask yourself,

“Why has this happened to me?”

It happened because of your many sins.

Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off

and your body has been treated badly.

²³Can a person from Cush change the color of his skin?

Can a leopard change his spots?

In the same way, Jerusalem, you cannot change and do good,

because you are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert wind.

²⁵This is what will happen to you;

this is your part in my plans,” says the Lord.

“Because you forgot me

and trusted in false gods,

²⁶I will pull your skirts up over your face

so everyone will see your shame.

²⁷I have seen the terrible things you have done:

your acts of adultery and your snorting,

your prostitution,

your hateful acts

on the hills and in the fields.

How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem.

How long will you continue being unclean?”