Jeremiah 12:1–14:22
12 Righteous aare You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
bWhy does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
cYou are near in their mouth
But far from their 1mind.
3 But You, O Lord, dknow me;
You have seen me,
And You have etested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for fthe day of slaughter.
4 How long will gthe land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
hThe beasts and birds are consumed,
iFor the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in jthe 2floodplain of the Jordan?
6 For even kyour brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called 3a multitude after you.
lDo not believe them,
Even though they speak 4smooth words to you.
7 “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have mhated it.
9 My 5heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
nBring them to devour!
10 “Many orulers 6have destroyed pMy vineyard,
They have qtrodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My 7pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it rdesolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because sno one takes it to heart.
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
13 tThey have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have 8put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14 Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who utouch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will vpluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15 wThen it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them xand bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. 16 And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, yto swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be zestablished in the midst of My people. 17 But if they do not aobey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.
13 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it 1around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I got a 2sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the 3sash that you acquired, which is 4around your waist, and arise, go to the 5Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the 6sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner aI will ruin the pride of Judah and the great bpride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who crefuse to hear My words, who dfollow 7the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. 11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that ethey may become My people, ffor renown, for praise, and for gglory; but they would hnot hear.’
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’
“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—iwith drunkenness! 14 And jI will dash them 8one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”
15 Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the Lord has spoken.
16 kGive glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes ldarkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are mlooking for light,
He turns it into nthe shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it,
My soul will oweep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to pthe king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
19 The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.
Those who come from the qnorth.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not rpangs seize you,
Like a woman in 9labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
s“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
tYour skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels 1made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
24 “Therefore I will uscatter them vlike stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 wThis is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in xfalsehood.
26 Therefore yI will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful zneighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations aon the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be made clean?”
14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
And aher gates languish;
They bmourn for the land,
And cthe cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were dashamed and confounded
eAnd covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is parched,
For there was fno rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But 1left because there was no grass.
6 And gthe wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”
7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
Do it hfor Your name’s sake;
For our backslidings are many,
We have sinned against You.
8 iO the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,
Why should You be like a stranger in the land,
And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should You be like a man astonished,
Like a mighty one jwho cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, kare in our midst,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!
10 Thus says the Lord to this people:
l“Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the Lord does not accept them;
mHe will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins.”
11 Then the Lord said to me, n“Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 oWhen they fast, I will not hear their cry; and pwhen they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But qI will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
13 rThen I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you 2assured speace in this place.’ ”
14 And the Lord said to me, t“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. uI have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, 3divination, a worthless thing, and the vdeceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, wand who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; xthey will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’
17 “Therefore you shall say this word to them:
y‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
zFor the virgin daughter of my people
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
18 If I go out to athe field,
Then behold, those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then behold, those sick from famine!
Yes, both prophet and bpriest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”
19 cHave You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that dthere is no healing for us?
eWe looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
And the iniquity of …