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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Jeremiah 12: HCSB
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