1485 - Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah Chapter 12


Lord, you always give me justice,

when I bring a case before you.


So, let me bring you this complaint:


Why are the wicked so prosperous?


Why are evil people so happy?


You have planted them, and they have taken root …and prospered.


Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.


But, as for me, Lord, you know my heart.


You see me …and You test my thoughts.


Drag these people away, like sheep to be butchered!


Set them aside, to be slaughtered!


How long must this land mourn?


Even the grass, in the fields, has withered.


The wild animals and birds have disappeared, because of the evil, in the land.


For the people have said,

“The Lord doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”


“If racing, against mere men, makes you tired, how will you race against horses?


If you stumble and fall, on open ground, what will you do, in the thickets… near the Jordan?


Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you.


They plot …and raise complaints, against you.


Do not trust them, …no matter how pleasantly they speak.


“I have abandoned my people, my special possession.


I have surrendered my dearest ones, to their enemies.


My chosen people have roared at me, like a lion of the forest, …so I have treated them, with contempt.


My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they, themselves, are surrounded by vultures.


Bring on the wild animals, to pick their corpses clean!


“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines, and turning all its beauty… into a barren wilderness.


They have made it an empty wasteland; 

…I hear its mournful cry.


The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.


On all the bare hilltops,

destroying armies …can be seen.


The sword, of the Lord, devours people, from one end of the nation… to the other.


No one will escape!


My people have planted wheat,

but are harvesting thorns.


They have worn themselves out,

but it has done them no good.


They will harvest a crop of shame, because of the fierce anger… of the Lord.”


Now this is what the Lord says: 


“I will uproot, from their land, all the evil nations, that are reaching out, for the possession …that I gave to my people, Israel. 


And I will uproot Judah, from among them. 


But, afterward, I will return …and I will have compassion, on all of them. 


I will bring them home, to their own lands again, each nation… to its own possession. 


And, if these nations …truly learn, the ways of my people, and if they learn …to swear, by my name, …saying, 


‘As surely, as the Lord lives’ 


(just as they taught my people to swear, by the name of Baal), 


…then they will be given a place, among my people. 


But, any nation, who refuses to obey me, will be uprooted …and destroyed. 


I, the Lord, have spoken!”  


The Holy Bible 

New Living Translation 


Jeremiah 12:1–17


Praise be to God!


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