A Plot Against Jeremiah is Revealed and He Complains of Injustice

11:18 The Lord gave me knowledge, that I might have understanding.48

Then he showed me what the people were doing.49

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me.50

I did not know they were saying,51

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit!52

Let’s remove Jeremiah53 from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.”54

11:20 So I said to the Lord,55

“O Lord who rules over all,56 you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds.57

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.”58

11:21 Then the Lord told me about59 some men from Anathoth60 who were threatening to kill me.61 They had threatened,62 “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!”63 11:22 So the Lord who rules over all64 said, “I will surely65 punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle.66 Their sons and daughters will die of starvation. 11:23 Not one of them will survive.67 I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you.68 A day of reckoning is coming for them.”69

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you.1

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.2

Why are wicked people successful?3

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.4

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.5

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you.6

12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me.

You watch me and test my devotion to you.7

Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!

Appoint a time when they will be killed!8

12:4 How long must the land be parched9

and the grass in every field be withered?

How long10 must the animals and the birds die

because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land?11

For these people boast,

“God12 will not see what happens to us.”13

12:5 The Lord answered,14

“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out,

how will you be able to compete with horses?

And if you feel secure only15 in safe and open country,16

how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?17

12:6 As a matter of fact,18 even your own brothers

and the members of your own family have betrayed you too.

Even they have plotted to do away with you.19

So do not trust them even when they say kind things20 to you.

12:7 “I will abandon my nation.21

I will forsake the people I call my own.22

I will turn my beloved people23

over to the power24 of their enemies.

12:8 The people I call my own25 have turned on me

like a lion26 in the forest.

They have roared defiantly27 at me.

So I will treat them as though I hate them.28

12:9 The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas.29

But other birds of prey are all around them.30

Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts.

Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.31

12:10 Many foreign rulers32 will ruin the land where I planted my people.33

They will trample all over my chosen land.34

They will turn my beautiful land

into a desolate wasteland.

12:11 They will lay it waste.

It will lie parched35 and empty before me.

The whole land will be laid waste.

But no one living in it will pay any heed.36

12:12 A destructive army37 will come marching

over the hilltops in the desert.

For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon38

against39 everyone from one end of the land to the other.

No one will be safe.40

12:13 My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds.41

They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it.

They will be disappointed in their harvests42

because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger.43

12:14 “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning44 the wicked nations who surround my land45 and have attacked and plundered46 the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession.47 I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.48 12:15 But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent49 and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands50 and to their own country. 12:16 But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people.51 Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal.52 But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.”53 If they do these things,54 then they will be included among the people I call my own.55 12:17 But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’ ”56 says the Lord.