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.
Jeremiah 12
12
1Righteous art thou, Jehovah, when I plead with thee; yet will I speak with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously? 2Thou hast planted them, they also have taken root: they advance, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins. 3But thou, Jehovah, knowest me; thou hast seen me, and proved my heart toward thee. Drag them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter. 4How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of all the fields wither? Because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts and the birds perish; for they say, He will not see our end. 5If thou hast run with footmen, and they have wearied thee, how wilt thou then contend with horses? And if in a land of peace thou thinkest thyself in security, how wilt thou then do in the swelling of the Jordan? 6For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak good words unto thee.
7I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage, I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; it hath raised its voice against me: therefore have I hated it. 9My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird of prey; the birds of prey round about are against her. Go, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. 10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness: 11they have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourneth unto me: the whole land is made desolate, for no man layeth it to heart. 12Spoilers are come upon all heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh hath peace. 13They have sown wheat, and they reap thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and do not profit. Be ye therefore ashamed of your revenues, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
14Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them up, I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land. 16And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, as Jehovah liveth — even as they taught my people to swear by Baal — they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 17And if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith Jehovah.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.