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, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers.
2Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root, They go on, yea, they have made fruit, Near [art] Thou in their mouth, And far off from their reins.
3And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known me, Thou seest me, and hast tried my heart with Thee, Draw them away as sheep to slaughter, And separate them for a day of slaughter.
4Till when doth the earth mourn, And the herb of the whole field wither? For the wickedness of those dwelling in it, Consumed have been beast and fowl, Because they said, ‘He doth not see our latter end.’
5For — with footmen thou hast run, And they weary thee, And how dost thou fret thyself with horses! Even in the land of peace, [In which] thou art confident — And how dost thou in the rising of Jordan!
6For even thy brethren and the house of thy father, Even they dealt treacherously against thee, Even they — they called after thee fully, Trust not in them, when they speak to thee good things.
7I have forsaken My house, I have left Mine inheritance, I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies.
8Mine inheritance hath been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, Therefore I have hated her.
9A speckled fowl [is] Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food.
10Many shepherds did destroy My vineyard, They have trodden down My portion, They have made My desirable portion Become a wilderness — a desolation.
11He hath made it become a desolation, The desolation hath mourned unto Me, Desolated hath been all the land, But there is no one laying it to heart.
12On all high places in the plain have spoilers come in, For the sword of Jehovah is consuming, From the end of the land even unto the end of the land, There is no peace to any flesh.
13They sowed wheat, and have thorns reaped, They have become sick — they profit not, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.
14Thus said Jehovah concerning all my evil neighbours, who are striking against the inheritance that I caused my people — Israel — to inherit: ‘Lo, I am plucking them from off their ground, And the house of Judah I pluck out of their midst.
15And it hath been, after My plucking them out, I turn back, and have pitied them, And I have brought them back, Each to his inheritance, and each to his land.
16And it hath come to pass, If they learn well the ways of My people, To swear by My name, ‘Jehovah liveth,’ As they taught My people to swear by Baal, Then they have been built up in the midst of My people.
17And if they do not hearken, Then I have plucked up that nation, Plucking up and destroying, An affirmation of Jehovah!’
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