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
1 You are righteous, LORD,
when I contend with you;
yet I would like to plead a case with you.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?
2 You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root.
They grow. Yes, they produce fruit.
You are near in their mouth,
and far from their heart.
3 But you, LORD, know me.
You see me, and test my heart towards you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land mourn,
and the herbs of the whole country wither?
Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein,
the animals and birds are consumed;
because they said,
“He won’t see our latter end.”
5“If you have run with the footmen,
and they have wearied you,
then how can you contend with horses?
Though in a land of peace you are secure,
yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you!
Even they have cried aloud after you!
Don’t believe them,
though they speak beautiful words to you.
7“I have forsaken my house.
I have cast off my heritage.
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest.
She has uttered her voice against me.
Therefore I have hated her.
9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey?
Are the birds of prey against her all around?
Go, assemble all the animals of the field.
Bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard.
They have trodden my portion under foot.
They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a desolation.
It mourns to me, being desolate.
The whole land is made desolate,
because no one cares.
12 Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness;
for the sword of the LORD devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land.
No flesh has peace.
13 They have sown wheat,
and have reaped thorns.
They have exhausted themselves,
and profit nothing.
You will be ashamed of your fruits,
because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”
14 The LORD says, “Concerning all my evil neighbours, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from amongst them. 15It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says the LORD.
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