Jeremiah 12
1 You are righteous, LORD, when I bring my case before you; even so, I want to discuss questions of justice with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, and why do all the treacherous live at ease?
2 You planted them, and they took root; they grow and bear fruit. You are near their mouths, but far from their hearts.
3 But you, LORD, know me; you see me and test my heart before you. Drag them away like sheep for slaughter, and set them apart for the day of killing.
4 How long will the land mourn and the grass in every field wither? Because of the wickedness of those who live in it, animals and birds have been swept away; for they said, “He will not see what becomes of us.”
5 If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how will you compete with horses? And if you feel secure in a peaceful land, what will you do in the dense thickets of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and your father’s house—even they have betrayed you; even they have shouted loudly behind you. Do not trust them, even when they speak kindly to you.
7 I have left my house, abandoned my inheritance; I have handed the beloved of my life over to her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest: it raised its voice against me; therefore I hated it.
9 Is my inheritance to me a speckled bird of prey? Are birds of prey surrounding it? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to feed.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, trampled my field; they have turned my desirable field into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a desolation; it mourns before me, desolate. The whole land is desolate, because no one takes it to heart.
12 Across all the bare hills in the wilderness, destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no living creature is at peace.
13 They sowed wheat and harvested thorns; they wore themselves out and gained nothing. Be ashamed of your harvests, because of the burning anger of the LORD.
14 This is what the LORD says about 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 the house of Judah from among them.
15 And after I uproot them, I will again have compassion on them and bring each one back to his inheritance and his land.
16 And it will happen that if they truly learn the ways of my people, swearing by my name, ‘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 they will not listen, I will uproot that nation—I will uproot it completely and destroy it, says the LORD.”
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