Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

1 You are righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before You. Yet I need to ask: Why do the wicked prosper, Why do all the treacherous live in peace,

2 You planted them, and they have taken root. They grow and produce fruit. You are near to their lips but far from their hearts.

3 But You know me, LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag the wicked out like sheep for slaughter; set them apart for the day of killing.

4 How long will the land mourn and the plants wither, The animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of the people, who say, “God does not see what we are doing.”

God’s Response to Jeremiah

5 “If racing with men on foot wears you out, how will you compete with horses, If you stumble in a safe land, how will you manage in the thickets of the Jordan?”

6 “Even your own brothers, your family, have betrayed you. They shout behind your back. Do not trust them, even when they speak friendly words.”

God’s Lament Over His People

7 “I have abandoned My house; I have forsaken My inheritance. I have handed the one I love into the hands of her enemies.”

8 “My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest, she roars at Me, so I hate her.”

9 “My inheritance is like a speckled bird; other birds surround and attack her. Go ahead, gather all the wild beasts and let them devour her.”

Judgment on the Shepherds and the Land

10 “Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard and trampled My field. They have turned My pleasant land into a wasteland.”

11 “They have made it a desolate ruin. Desolate, it mourns before Me; the whole land is devastated but no one cares.”

12 “Destroyers have come from every direction across the desert. No peace for anyone, not even for the animals.”

13 “They planted wheat but reaped thorns. They exhausted themselves but gained nothing. They will be ashamed of their harvest because of My fierce anger.”

God Will Judge the Nations but Restore Israel

14 “This is what the LORD says: All My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance I gave My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot Judah from among them.”

15 “But after I uproot them, I will have compassion and bring each nation back to its own land.”

16 “And if they truly learn the ways of My people and swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be established among My people.”

17 “But if any nation refuses to listen, I will uproot and destroy it completely,” declares the LORD.