Jeremías 12

1 Justo eres tú, o! Jehová, aunque yo dispute contigo: hablaré empero juicios contigo. ¿Por qué es prosperado el camino de los impíos? tienen paz todos los que rebelan de rebelión.

Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy [about what is happening to me], you [always] act justly/fairly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing [that I do not understand]: Why are wicked people [often] very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest/wicked people?

2 Plantástelos, echaron raíces también: aprovecharon, e hicieron fruto: estando cercano tú en sus bocas, mas lejos de sus riñones.

You allow them to prosper like [MET] trees that grow tall and bear [a lot of] fruit. They [always] say [MTY] good things about you, but their hearts are [really] far from you.

3 Y tú, o! Jehová, me conoces, me viste, y probaste mi corazón para contigo: arráncalos como a ovejas para el degolladero, y señálalos para el día de la matanza.

But Yahweh, as for me, you know what is in my inner being. You see what I [do] and you are able to know what I am thinking. So drag away those [wicked] people, like [people drag away] sheep that they are going to butcher. Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!

4 ¿Hasta cuándo estará la tierra desierta, y la yerba de todo el campo estará seca por la maldad de los que en ella moran? Faltaron los ganados, y las aves, porque dijeron: No verá nuestras postrimerías.

This land is [RHQ] becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. The wild animals and the birds have [all] died because the people are [very] wicked. [All that has happened] because the people have said, “Yahweh does not know what we are doing (OR, what will happen to us)!”

5 Si corriste con los de a pie, y te cansaron, ¿cómo contenderás con los caballos? Y en la tierra de paz estabas quieto, ¿cómo harás en la hinchazón del Jordán?

[Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me], [“It is as though] you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you [stumble and] fall when you are running on open/bare/smooth ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thornbushes near the Jordan [River]?

6 Porque aun tus hermanos y la casa de tu padre, aun ellos se levantaron contra ti: aun ellos dieron voces en pos de ti: Congregación. No les creas cuando bien te hablaren.

[Already] your brothers and [other members of] your own family oppose you. They (plot against/plan to do evil things to) you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them!

7 Dejé mi casa, desamparé mi heredad, entregué lo que amaba mi alma en la mano de sus enemigos.

I have abandoned my [Israeli] people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the Israeli people, whom I love.

8 Fue para mí mi heredad como león en breña: dio contra mí su voz: por tanto la aborrecí.

My people have become to me like [SIM] a lion in the forest. [It is as though] they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them.

9 ¿Esme mi heredad ave de muchos colores? ¿no están contra ella aves en derredor? Veníd, juntáos todas las bestias del campo, veníd a tragarla.

My chosen people have [RHQ] become like speckled hawks that are surrounded by vultures [waiting to eat their flesh after they are dead]. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat [the flesh of their corpses].

10 Muchos pastores destruyeron mi viña, hollaron mi heredad, tornaron en desierto y soledad mi heredad preciosa.

Many rulers [from other countries have come with their armies and] devastated/destroyed my people [whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his] vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives.

11 Tornóla en asolamiento, lloró contra mí asolada: fue asolada toda la tierra, porque no hubo hombre que mirase.

They have caused it to become completely empty; [it is as though] I hear the land crying sadly/mournfully. The whole land is desolate, and no one (worries about/pays any attention to) it.

12 Sobre todos los lugares altos del desierto vinieron disipadores; porque la espada de Jehová traga desde el un extremo de la tierra hasta el otro extremo: no hay paz para ninguna carne.

The soldiers [of our enemies] have marched across all the barren hilltops. But [I], Yahweh, am using those armies [MTY] to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape.

13 Sembraron trigo, y segarán espinas: tuvieron la heredad, mas no aprovecharon nada: avergonzarse han a causa de vuestros frutos por la ira de Jehová.

[It is as though] my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired [because of much hard work], but they have gained nothing [from all that work]. They will be very disappointed because their harvests [will be very small], [and that will happen] because [I], Yahweh, am extremely angry [with them].”

14 Así dijo Jehová contra todos mis malos vecinos, que tocan la heredad que hice poseer a mi pueblo Israel: He aquí que yo los arrancaré de su tierra; y la casa de Judá arrancaré de en medio de ellos.

This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “[I will punish] the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israeli people, and I will force them to leave their own land. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their land, also.

15 Y será que después que los hubiere arrancado, tornaré, y habré misericordia de ellos; y hacerlos he tornar cada uno a su heredad, y cada uno a su tierra.

But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each [clan] will come back to its own land.

16 Y será que si aprendiendo aprendieren los caminos de mi pueblo, para jurar en mi nombre: Vive Jehová; como enseñaron a mi pueblo a jurar por Baal; ellos serán prosperados en medio de mi pueblo.

And if the people [of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel] learn the [religious] customs of my people, and if they learn that I [am listening] when they solemnly promise that they will do something good, like they taught my people to believe that [their god] Baal [was listening] when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people.

17 Mas si no oyeren, arrancaré a la tal nación, arrancando y perdiendo, dice Jehová.

But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”