Jeremiah 12

1 “Lord, you are righteous when I bring my case before you, yet I must ask about your judgments: Why does the way of the ungodly prosper? Why do all who break faith flourish?”

2 “You planted them and they took root. They grew and produced fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their deepest thoughts.”

3 “But you, Lord, know me. You have proved my heart before you. Purify them for the day of their slaughter.”

4 “How long will the land mourn, and all the grass of the field wither, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The cattle and the birds have been wiped out, because the people said, ‘God will not see our ways.’”

5 “Your feet are running, and they wear you out — how will you make ready against horses? You feel safe in a land of peace — what will you do in the roaring of the Jordan?”

6 “For even your brothers and your father’s house — even they have broken faith with you; even they have shouted and gathered in a crowd behind you. Do not trust them, even when they speak good words to you.”

7 “I have abandoned my house; I have left my inheritance behind. I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies.”

8 “My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She raised her voice against me; therefore I hated her.”

9 “Is my inheritance not a hyena’s cave to me, with caves all around her? Go, gather all the wild animals of the field, and let them come to devour her.”

10 “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have dirtied my portion; they have made the portion I delighted in an uninhabited wilderness.”

11 “It has been made a ruin of destruction; for my sake the whole land has been utterly ruined, because there is not one man who takes it to heart.”

12 “Over every track in the wilderness the destroyers came, for the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land to the other. No flesh has any peace.”

13 “Sow wheat and reap thorns: their portions will do them no good. Be ashamed of your boasting, of your disgrace before the Lord.”

14 “For this is what the Lord says about all the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance I portioned out to my people Israel: Look, I will tear them away from their land, and I will pull Judah out from among them.”

15 “And after I have pulled them out, I will turn back and have mercy on them, and I will settle them each in his own inheritance and each in his own land.”

16 “And if they truly learn the way of my people — to swear by my name, ‘The Lord lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal — then they will be built up in the midst of my people.”

17 “But if they refuse to return, I will uproot that nation and bring it to complete ruin.”