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
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, # Lit are near in their mouth
but far from their conscience. # 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.” # 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 # 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 household —
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 given the love of My life
into the hands of her enemies.
8My inheritance has acted 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 # 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 Yahweh 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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