Jeremiah 12
12
Jeremiah Questions the Lord’s Justice
1 Lord, you always give me justice
when I bring a case before you.
So let me bring you this complaint:
Why are the wicked so prosperous?
Why are evil people so happy?
2You have planted them,
and they have taken root and prospered.
Your name is on their lips,
but you are far from their hearts.
3But as for me, Lord, you know my heart.
You see me and test my thoughts.
Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered!
Set them aside to be slaughtered!
4How long must this land mourn?
Even the grass in the fields has withered.
The wild animals and birds have disappeared
because of the evil in the land.
For the people have said,
“The Lord doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”
The Lord’s Reply to Jeremiah
5“If racing against mere men makes you tired,
how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground,
what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
6Even your brothers, members of your own family,
have turned against you.
They plot and raise complaints against you.
Do not trust them,
no matter how pleasantly they speak.
7“I have abandoned my people, my special possession.
I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
8My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest,
so I have treated them with contempt.
9My chosen people act like speckled vultures,#12:9 Or speckled hyenas.
but they themselves are surrounded by vultures.
Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
10“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard,
trampling down the vines
and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
11They have made it an empty wasteland;
I hear its mournful cry.
The whole land is desolate,
and no one even cares.
12On all the bare hilltops,
destroying armies can be seen.
The sword of the Lord devours people
from one end of the nation to the other.
No one will escape!
13My people have planted wheat
but are harvesting thorns.
They have worn themselves out,
but it has done them no good.
They will harvest a crop of shame
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
A Message for Israel’s Neighbors
14Now this is what the Lord says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them. 15But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession. 16And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people. 17But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
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Jeremiah 12: NLT
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 12
12
1Righteous are You, O יהוה, when I plead with You. Indeed, let me speak with You about right-rulings. Why has the way of the wrong prospered? All the workers of treachery are at ease?#See footnote at Psa. 73:3
2You have planted them and they have taken root, they grow and they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their kidneys.
3But You have known me, O יהוה. You see me, and You have tried my heart toward You. Draw them away like sheep for slaughter, and separate them for the day of slaughter.
4How long shall the land mourn, and the plants of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, for the evil of those who dwell there, because they said, “He does not see our latter ending.”
5“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how do you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, you feel safe, then how do you manage in the Yardĕn jungle?
6“For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have betrayed you, even they have cried aloud after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.
7“I have forsaken My house, I have left My inheritance, I have given the beloved of My being into the hand of her enemies.
8“My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. It cries out against Me, therefore I have hated it.
9“My inheritance is to Me like a speckled bird of prey, the birds of prey all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour!
10“Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion become a deserted wilderness.#See footnote at Jer. 10:21
11“They have laid it waste – a waste, it mourns to Me. All the land is laid waste, because no one takes it to heart.
12“The ravagers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness, for the sword of יהוה is devouring from one end of the land to the other end of the land. There is no peace to any flesh.
13“They have sown wheat but reaped thorns, they have exhausted themselves – they do not profit. And they shall be ashamed of your harvest because of the burning displeasure of יהוה.”
14Thus said יהוה, “As for all My evil neighbours who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Yisra’ĕl to inherit; see, I am plucking them out of their land, and I shall pluck out the house of Yehuḏah from their midst.
15“And it shall be, after My plucking them out, I shall return, and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his inheritance and everyone to his land.
16“And it shall be, if they learn well the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘As יהוה lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Ba‛al, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.
17“But if they do not obey, I shall pluck up, pluck up and destroy that nation,” declares יהוה.
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