Jeremiah 12
12
Jeremiah Complains to the Lord
1Whenever I complain
to you, Lord,
you are always fair.
But now I have questions
about your justice.
Why is life easy for sinners?
Why are they successful?
2You plant them like trees;
you let them prosper
and produce fruit.
Yet even when they praise you,
they don't mean it.
3But you know, Lord,
how faithful I've always been,
even in my thoughts.
So drag my enemies away
and butcher them like sheep!
4How long will the ground be dry
and the pasturelands parched?
The birds and animals
are dead and gone.
And all of this happened because
the people are so sinful.
They even brag, “God can't see
the sins we commit.”#12.4 God can't see the sins we commit: One ancient translation; Hebrew “He won't live to see what happens to us.”
The Lord Answers Jeremiah
5Jeremiah, if you get tired
in a race against people,
how can you possibly run
against horses?
If you fall in open fields,
what will happen in the forest
along the Jordan River?
6Even your own family
has turned against you.
They act friendly,
but don't trust them.
They're out to get you,
and so is everyone else.
The Lord Is Furious with His People
7I loved my people and chose them
as my very own.
But now I will reject them
and hand them over
to their enemies.
8My people have turned against me
and roar at me like lions.
That's why I hate them.
9My people are like a hawk
surrounded and attacked
by other hawks.#12.9 My people … other hawks: Or “My land has become a hyena's den with vultures circling above.”
Tell the wild animals
to come and eat their fill.
10My beautiful land is ruined
like a field or a vineyard
trampled by shepherds
and stripped bare
by their flocks.
11Every field I see lies barren,
and no one cares.
12A destroying army
marches along desert roads
and attacks everywhere.
They are my deadly sword;
no one is safe from them.
13My people, you planted wheat,
but because I was furious,
I let only weeds grow.
You wore yourselves out
and gained only shame!
The Lord Will Have Pity on Other Nations
14The Lord said:
I gave this land to my people Israel, but enemies around it have attacked and robbed it. So I will uproot them from their own countries just as I will uproot Judah from its land. 15But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands. 16They once taught my people to worship Baal. But if they admit I am the only true God, and if they let my people teach them how to worship me, these nations will also become my people. 17However, if they don't listen to me, I will uproot them from their lands and completely destroy them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Jeremiah 12: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Yirmeyah 12
12
1Tzaddik art Thou, Hashem, when I make legal pleading of my case before Thee; yet mishpatim (justice) I would speak with Thee: Why doth the Derech Resha'im prosper? Why live they all at ease whose dealings are that of the boged (traitor, treacherous)?
2Thou hast planted them, and they take root; they grow, and they bring forth pri; Thou art karov (near) in their mouth, and rachok (far) from their heart.
3But Thou, Hashem, knowest me; Thou hast seen me, and tested mine lev toward Thee; pull them out like tzon for the tevakh (slaughter), and prepare them for the Yom Haregah (Day of Slaughter, Killing).
4Ad mosai (until when) shall HaAretz mourn, and the esev kol hasadeh (grass of every field) wither, because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The behemot are consumed, and the oph; because they said, He#12:4 G-d is blind to our future.
5If thou hast run with the ragelim (footmen), and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with susim? And if in the eretz shalom thou art complacent, then how wilt thou do in the thickets of the Yarden?
6For even acheicha (thy brethren), and the bais avicha, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they are in full cry behind thee; trust them not, though they speak unto thee tovot.
7I have forsaken Mine Bais, I have abandoned Mine nachalah; I have given the yedidut nafshi (the beloved of My soul) into the palm of her enemies.
8Mine nachalah is unto Me as an aryeh in the ya'ar (forest); it roareth out against Me; therefore have I hated it.
9Mine nachalah is unto Me as a speckled bird of prey, the birds of prey round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the chayyat hasadeh (beasts of the field), come to devour.
10Ro'im rabbim (many shepherds) have destroyed My kerem (vineyard), they have trodden My chelek under foot, they have made My chelet chemdat (portion desired) a desolate midbar.
11They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto Me; kol HaAretz is made desolate, but no ish taketh it to heart.
12The plunderers are come upon all barren heights in the midbar; for the Cherev Hashem shall devour from the one end of the Eretz even to the other end of HaAretz; no basar shall have shalom.
13They have sown chittim (wheat), but shall reap kotzim (thorns); they have tired themselves out, but shall not profit; and they shall be ashamed of your harvests because of the Charon Af Hashem (burning furious wrath of Hashem).
14Thus saith Hashem: Concerning all Mine evil shchenim (neighbors), that touch the nachalah which I have caused My people Yisroel to inherit: See, I will uproot them out of their adamah, and uproot the Bais Yehudah from among them.
15And it shall come to pass, after that I uproot them I will return, and have rachamim (compassion) on them, and will bring them back again, every ish to his nachalah, and every ish to his eretz.
16And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the darkhei Ami (ways of My people ),#12:16 i.e., Israelʼs Biblical faith to swear in My Shem, As Hashem liveth; even as they taught My people to make avowal in Ba'al; then shall they be built up in the midst of My People.
17But if they will not obey, I will utterly uproot and destroy that Goy (Nation), saith Hashem.
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