Jeremiah 12
12
Jeremiah’s Complaint
1You will be righteous, Lord,#Ezr 9:15; Neh 9:8,33; Ps 119:137
even if I bring a case against you.
Yet, I wish to contend with you:#Jb 9:14–15; 13:13–28; 23:2–17
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?#Ps 73
Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
2You planted them,#Ps 1:3; Jr 17:7–8 and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,#12:2 Lit are near in their mouth
but far from their conscience.#12:2 Lit kidneys#Ps 28:3; Is 29:13
3As for you, Lord, you know me; you see me.#Ps 139; Jr 1:5
You test whether my heart is with you.#Ps 7:9; Jr 11:20
Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter#Jr 11:19
and set them apart for the day of killing.
4How long will the land mourn#Is 24:4–7; Jr 4:28; 23:10
and the grass of every field wither?
Because of the evil of its residents,
animals and birds have been swept away,#Zph 1:3
for the people have said,
“He cannot see what our end will be.”#12:4 LXX reads see our ways#Dt 32:20; Jb 22:13; Jr 29:11
The Lord’s Response
5If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble#12:5 Or you are secure in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?#Jr 50:44
6Even your brothers — your own father’s family —
even they were treacherous to you;#Jn 1:11
even they have cried out loudly after you.#Jr 11:19
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.
7I have abandoned my house;#Ezk 8:1–11:25
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have handed the love of my life
over to her enemies.
8My inheritance has behaved toward me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me.
Therefore, I hate her.#Hs 9:15; Am 6:8
9Is my inheritance like a hyena#12:9 Hb obscure to me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;#Is 56:9; Jr 7:33
bring them to devour her.
10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled my plot of land.#Is 63:18
They have turned my desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.#Is 42:25
12Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.#2Ch 15:5; Is 48:22; Ezk 13:16
13They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.#Lv 26:16; Dt 28:38; Hs 8:7; Mc 6:15; Hg 1:6
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.#Is 55:2
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.#Jr 4:26; 25:37–38
14This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all my evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to my people, Israel, I am about to uproot them#Jr 1:10; 18:7–8 from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them. 15After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion#Jr 30:18; 31:20; 33:26; 42:12 on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. 16If they will diligently learn the ways of my people#Is 2:2–4; Mc 4:1–5 — to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal — they will be built up among my people. 17However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.”#Is 60:12
This is the Lord’s declaration.
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 12
12
Jeremiah’s First Complaint
1Lord, if I complain to you,
you are always right.
But I want to ask you about the justice you give.
Why are evil people successful?
Why do dishonest people have such easy lives?
2You have put the evil people here.
They are like plants with strong roots.
They grow and produce fruit.
With their mouths they speak well of you.
But their hearts are really far away from you.
3But you know my heart, Lord.
You see me and test my mind.
Drag the evil people away like sheep to be butchered.
Set them aside for the day of killing.
4How much longer will the land stay dried up?
How long will the grass in every field be dead?
The animals and birds in the land have died.
And it is because the people are evil.
Yet, they are saying,
“God does not see what happens to us!”
God’s Answer to Jeremiah
5“If you get tired racing against men,
how can you race against horses?
You stumble in a country that is safe.
What will you do in the thick thornbushes along the Jordan River?
6These men are your own brothers.
Members of your own family are making plans against you.
People from your own family are crying out against you.
Don’t trust them,
even when they speak to you like friends!
7“I have left Israel.
I have left my people.
I have given the people I love
to their enemies.
8My people have become
like a lion in the forest to me.
They roar at me.
So I hate them.
9My people have become to me
like a speckled bird attacked by hawks.
Go, gather the wild animals!
Bring them to get something to eat.
10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyards.
They will walk on the plants in my field.
They will turn my beautiful field
into an empty desert.
11They will turn my field into a desert.
It will be wilted and dead.
The whole country is an empty desert.
This is because no one who lives there cares.
12Many soldiers will march over those barren hills.
The Lord will use the armies to punish that land.
People from one end of the land to the other will be punished.
No one will be safe.
13The people will plant wheat.
But they will harvest only thorns.
They will work hard until they are very tired.
But they will get nothing for all their work.
You will be ashamed of your poor harvest.
The Lord’s terrible anger has caused this.”
14This is what the Lord said to me: “Here is what I will do to those wicked people who take the land I gave my people, the Israelites. I will pull them up and throw them out of their land. And I will pull up the people of Judah from among them. 15But after I pull them up, I will feel sorry for them. I will bring each person back to his own property. And I will bring him back to his own land. 16I want them to learn their lessons well. In the past they taught my people to use Baal’s name to make promises. Now I want them to learn to use my name! I want them to say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives . . .’ If they do, I will allow them to be successful. And I will let them live among my people. 17But a nation might not listen to my message. If it doesn’t, I will pull it up completely and destroy it,” says the Lord.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.