Jeremiah 12

1 Lord, when I complain to you, you always show yourself to be in the right. Even so I still want to present my case to you. Why is it that wicked people do so well? Why do those who are unfaithful to you live so comfortably?

[Too] righteous art thou, O Lord, that I could plead with thee; yet must I speak of [the principles of] justice with thee: Wherefore is the way of the wicked happy? do all those prosper that deal treacherously?

2 You planted them, and they've taken root, grown, and produced fruit. They're always talking about you but they don't think of you, even for a moment.

Thou hast planted them; they have also taken root; they grow; they also bring forth fruit: thou art near, in their mouth, and far from their mind.

3 But you know me, Lord, you see me, and examine what I think about you. Drag off these people like sheep to be slaughtered; keep them apart for the time when they're killed.

But thou, O Lord, knowest me; thou seest me, and probest my heart toward thee; set them apart like sheep for the slaughter, and destine them for the day of slaying.

4 How long will the land have to mourn and the grass in every field be dried up because of the evil of the people who live there? The animals and birds have died out because the people have said, “He doesn't know what's going to happen to us.”

How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of all the field wither? Because of the wickedness of those that dwell therein are wholly removed the beasts and the birds; because they said, He will not see our last end.

5 The Lord says, Once you've become worn out in a foot race against men, how would you win racing against horses? If you trip up in open ground, how would you do in the tangled undergrowth beside the Jordan?

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, how then canst thou contend with the horses? and if in the land of peace, [wherein] thou trustedst, [they wearied thee, ] how then wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?

6 Even your own brothers and your father's family have betrayed you; they have publicly criticized you. Don't trust them when they talk nicely to you!

For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, even they have called forth a crowd of men after thee: believe them not, though they speak kindly unto thee.

7 I have given up on my people; I have abandoned the nation I chose. I have handed over the ones I truly love to their enemies.

I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage; I have given up the most dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8 They've turned into a wild lion, roaring at me—that's why I hate them.

My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; it sent forth its voice against me: therefore do I hate it.

9 My people are like a spotted bird of prey to me with other birds of prey circling to attack it. Go and bring all the wild animals to eat up the carcass.

Is my heritage become unto me as a bird of prey stained with blood? so that the birds of prey are all around it? Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them hither to devour.

10 Many shepherds have come and destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down the crops in my field. They have turned my pleasant land into an empty wasteland.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden under foot my field, they have rendered my pleasant field a desolate wilderness.

11 They have made it into a desert; it mourns before me, lying desolate. The whole country is a wasteland, but no one cares.

They have made it a desert, and being desolate it mourneth before me: the whole land is made desolate, because no man laid it to heart.

12 The destructive armies have crossed all the bare desert hills for the Lord's sword destroys from one end of the country to the other. No one has any peace.

Over all the mountain-peaks in the wilderness did the destroyers come; for the sword of the Lord devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: there is no peace to any flesh.

13 My people sowed wheat but harvested thorns. They wore themselves out but gained no benefit. You should be ashamed of such a poor harvest, caused by the Lord's furious anger.

They have sown wheat, but they reap thorns; they have put themselves to pain [but] have no profit; be therefore ashamed of your products, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

14 This is what the Lord says: When it comes these evil nearby nations who attack the country that I gave to my people Israel, I'm going to uproot them from their land. I'm also going to uproot the people of Judah from among them.

Thus hath said the Lord against all my bad neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit, Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and the house of Judah will I pluck out from the midst of them.

15 However, once I have uprooted them, I will have mercy on them again, and bring each one back to their property and their land.

And it shall come to pass, that, after I have plucked them out, and I will again have mercy on them, and will restore them, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

16 If they will honestly learn the ways of my people and respect me, making their vows to me, just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will do well among my people.

And it shall come to pass, if they will truly learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As the Lord liveth; as they had taught my people to swear by Ba'al: that they shall then be built up in the midst of my people.

17 But if they refuse to obey, then I will not only uproot that nation but I will completely destroy it, declares the Lord.

But if they will not hearken, then will I pluck out that nation, plucking out and exterminating [them], saith the Lord.