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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 12
12
Jeremiah’s Complaint
1 #
Ezra 9:15; Ps. 51:4; Lam. 1:18; Dan. 9:7 Righteous are you, O Lord,
when I complain to you;
yet I would plead my case before you.
#
Job 12:6; Ps. 37:1, 7; 92:7; Hab. 1:13; Mal. 3:15; See Job 21:7-15; Ps. 73:3-12 Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all #[Isa. 21:2]who are treacherous thrive?
2You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and produce fruit;
#
Isa. 29:13
you are near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
3 # ch. 15:15; Ps. 139:1 But you, O Lord, know me;
#
Ps. 17:3 you see me, and test my heart toward you.
# [2 Pet. 2:12] Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for #James 5:5the day of slaughter.
4 # ver. 11; ch. 9:10; 23:10 How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
#
Ps. 107:34 For the evil of those who dwell in it
# ch. 4:25; 7:20; 9:10; Hos. 4:3; [Rom. 8:22] the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”
The Lord Answers Jeremiah
5“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in #ch. 49:19; 50:44; Zech. 11:3; [Josh. 3:15]the thicket of the Jordan?
6For #ch. 9:4; [ch. 11:19, 21] even your brothers and the house of your father,
# [See ver. 1 above] even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
#
Prov. 26:25
do not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.”
7“I have forsaken my house;
I have abandoned #Isa. 19:25 my heritage;
I have given #ch. 11:15the beloved of my soul
into the hands of her enemies.
8 # [See ver. 7 above] My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
therefore I hate her.
9Is #[See ver. 7 above] my heritage to me like #Isa. 46:11 a hyena’s lair?
Are the #Isa. 46:11 birds of prey against her all around?
Go, #ch. 7:33; Isa. 56:9; [Ezek. 39:17; Rev. 19:17]assemble all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
#
Isa. 63:18
they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
11They have made it a desolation;
desolate, #[See ver. 4 above] it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
#
Isa. 42:25
but no man lays it to heart.
12Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
13 # [Lev. 26:16; Deut. 28:38; Mic. 6:15; Hag. 1:6] They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
#
Isa. 55:2; Hab. 2:13 they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their#12:13 Hebrew your harvests
# ch. 4:8, 26; 25:37, 38; 30:24; 49:37; 51:45; Lam. 1:12; 4:11 because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14Thus says the Lord concerning all #[Ps. 137:7]; See Ezek. 25 my evil neighbors #Zech. 2:8 who touch the heritage that #ch. 3:18I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, #ch. 48:47; 49:6and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. 16And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, #ch. 4:2 to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, #ch. 24:6; [1 Pet. 2:5]then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 17#[Isa. 60:12]But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”
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