Jeremiah 12–13

Chapter 12

¹Righteous art thou, O Lord,

when I complain to thee;

yet I would plead my case before thee.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

²Thou plantest them, and they take root;

they grow and bring forth fruit;

thou art near in their mouth

and far from their heart.

³But thou, O Lord, knowest me;

thou seest me, and triest my mind toward thee.

Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,

and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

⁴How long will the land mourn,

and the grass of every field wither?

For the wickedness of those who dwell in it

the beasts and the birds are swept away,

because men said, “He will not see our latter end.”

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 fall down,

how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?

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

even they have dealt treacherously with you;

they are in full cry after you;

believe them not,

though they speak fair words to you.”

⁷“I have forsaken my house,

I have abandoned my heritage;

I have given the beloved of my soul

into the hands of her enemies.

⁸My heritage has become to me

like a lion in the forest,

she has lifted up her voice against me;

therefore I hate her.

⁹Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey?

Are the birds of prey against her round about?

Go, assemble all the wild beasts;

bring them to devour.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,

they have trampled down my portion,

they have made my pleasant portion

a desolate wilderness.

¹¹They have made it a desolation;

desolate, it mourns to me.

The whole land is made desolate,

but 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.

¹³They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,

they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.

They shall be ashamed of their^u harvests

because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage which I 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, and 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, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, says the Lord.”

Chapter 13

¹Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water.” ²So I bought a waistcloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. ³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴“Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” ⁵So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing. ¹¹For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

¹²“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’ ¹³Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’ ”

¹⁵Hear and give ear; be not proud,

for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the twilight mountains,

and while you look for light

he turns it into gloom

and makes it deep darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not listen,

my soul will weep in secret for your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,

because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother:

“Take a lowly seat,

for your beautiful crown

has come down from your head.”^v

¹⁹The cities of the Negeb are shut up,

with none to open them;

all Judah is taken into exile,

wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Lift up your eyes and see

those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given you,

your beautiful flock?

²¹What will you say when they set as head over you

those whom you yourself have taught

to be friends to you?

Will not pangs take hold of you,

like those of a woman in travail?

²²And if you say in your heart,

‘Why have these things come upon me?’

it is for the greatness of your iniquity

that your skirts are lifted up,

and you suffer violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin

or the leopard his spots?

Then also you can do good

who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the wind from the desert.

²⁵This is your lot,

the portion I have measured out to you, says the Lord,

because you have forgotten me

and trusted in lies.

²⁶I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,

and your shame will be seen.

²⁷I have seen your abominations,

your adulteries and neighings, your lewd harlotries,

on the hills in the field.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

How long will it be

before you are made clean?”