Jeremiah 12

New International Version

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous,^(A) Lord,
    when I bring a case^(B) before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:^(C)
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?^(D)
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
²You have planted^(E) them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.^(F)
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.^(G)
³Yet you know me, Lord;
    you see me and test^(H) my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep^(I) to be butchered!
    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!^(J)
⁴How long will the land lie parched^(K)
    and the grass in every field be withered?^(L)
Because those who live in it are wicked,
    the animals and birds have perished.^(M)
Moreover, the people are saying,
    “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵“If you have raced with men on foot
    and they have worn you out,
    how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble^[a] in safe country,
    how will you manage in the thickets^(N) by^[b] the Jordan?
⁶Your relatives, members of your own family—
    even they have betrayed you;
    they have raised a loud cry against you.^(O)
Do not trust them,
    though they speak well of you.^(P)

⁷“I will forsake^(Q) my house,
    abandon^(R) my inheritance;
I will give the one I love^(S)
    into the hands of her enemies.^(T)
⁸My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion^(U) in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.^(V)
⁹Has not my inheritance become to me
    like a speckled bird of prey
    that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.^(W)
¹⁰Many shepherds^(X) will ruin my vineyard
    and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
    into a desolate wasteland.^(Y)
¹¹It will be made a wasteland,^(Z)
    parched and desolate before me;^(AA)
the whole land will be laid waste
    because there is no one who cares.
¹²Over all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will swarm,
for the sword^(AB) of the Lord^(AC) will devour^(AD)
    from one end of the land to the other;^(AE)
    no one will be safe.^(AF)
¹³They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
    they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.^(AG)
They will bear the shame of their harvest
    because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”^(AH)

¹⁴This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance^(AI) I gave my people Israel, I will uproot^(AJ) them from their lands and I will uproot^(AK) the people of Judah from among them. ¹⁵But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion^(AL) and will bring^(AM) each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. ¹⁶And if they learn^(AN) well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’^(AO)—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal^(AP)—then they will be established among my people.^(AQ) ¹⁷But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy^(AR) it,” declares the Lord.