Jeremiah 12

1You are righteous, Yahweh, when I bring a case against you. Yet I would speak with you about matters of justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all the treacherous at ease?

2You planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are near in their mouths but far from their hearts.

3But you, Yahweh, know me; you see me and test my heart toward you. Drag them off like sheep for slaughter, and set them apart for the day of killing.

4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the wickedness of those who live in it, animals and birds are swept away, for they have said, “He will not see our end.”

5If you have raced with runners on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you feel secure in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

6For even your brothers and your father’s household, even they have betrayed you; even they are shouting loudly after you. Do not trust them, even when they speak kindly to you.

7I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my inheritance. I have given the one I dearly love into the hands of her enemies.

8My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has roared against me. So I hate her.

9Is my inheritance to me like a speckled bird of prey, with birds of prey all around her? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour her.

10Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion. They have turned my pleasant portion into a desolate wilderness.

11They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns before me. The whole land is laid waste, because no one takes it to heart.

12Destroyers have come over all the bare heights in the wilderness, for the sword of Yahweh devours from one end of the land to the other; there is no peace for anyone.

13They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have worn themselves out but gained nothing. Be ashamed of your harvests because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

14This is what Yahweh 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.

15But after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to his own inheritance and each one to his own land.

16And if they will diligently learn the ways of my people and swear by my name, “As Yahweh lives,” just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up among my people.

17But if they will not listen, I will completely uproot that nation and destroy it, declares Yahweh.