Jeremiah 12

A question about justice

1You are righteous, LORD,
when I bring my case before you.
Still, I want to speak with you about justice.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the treacherous live at ease? 2You planted them, and they took root.
They grow and bear fruit.
You are near in their mouths
but far from their innermost being. 3But you, LORD, know me;
you see me and test my heart toward you.
Drag them away like sheep for slaughter;
set them apart for the day of killing. 4How long will the land mourn
and the grass in every field wither?
Because of the evil of those who live there,
animals and birds are swept away.
For they say, ‘He will not see what happens to us.’ 5“If racing against people on foot has worn you out,
how will you compete with horses?
If you feel secure in a peaceful land,
how will you manage in the Jordan’s thickets? 6Even your brothers and your father’s household
have betrayed you.
Even they shout after you at full voice.
Do not trust them,
even when they speak kindly to you.

The abandoned inheritance

7I have left my house,
abandoned my inheritance.
I have handed the beloved of my soul
over to her enemies. 8My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me;
that is why I hate her. 9Is my inheritance a speckled bird of prey,
with birds of prey surrounding her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;
bring them to devour! 10Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard;
they have trampled my plot of land.
They have made my cherished plot
a desolate wilderness. 11It has been made a wasteland;
desolate, it mourns before me.
The whole land lies waste,
because no one takes it to heart. 12Destroyers have come
over all the bare heights in the wilderness.
The LORD has a sword that devours
from one end of the land to the other.
No flesh has peace. 13They sowed wheat but reaped thorns.
They exhausted themselves but gained nothing.
Be ashamed of your harvests
because of the LORD’s burning anger.”

Uprooting and return

14This is what the LORD says about all my evil neighbors who lay hands on the inheritance I gave my people Israel: “Look, I will uproot them from their soil, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

15After I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them and bring each back to their own inheritance and their own land.

16If they truly learn my people’s ways and swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives’—just as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among my people.

17But if they do not listen, I will uproot that nation completely and destroy it,” declares the LORD.