Jeremiah 12

12 ¹You are righteous, my Father, whenever I bring my case before you; yet I want to speak with you about your judgments. 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 hearts. ³But you, my Father, know me; you see me, and you test my heart toward you. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter, and set them aside for the day of slaughter. ⁴How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of those who live in it, the animals and the birds are swept away—for the people say, "He will not see what becomes of us."

The Father Answers Jeremiah

⁵If you have raced with runners on foot and they have worn you out, how then will you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? ⁶For even your brothers and your father's house—even they have betrayed you; even they have cried out loudly against you. Do not trust them, though they speak kind words to you. ⁷I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my heart into the hands of her enemies. ^a a v7 Even in handing his people over, our Father grieves like one giving up the love of his own heart — judgment that costs the Father everything. ⁸My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has roared against me, and so I have turned against her. ⁹Is my heritage a speckled bird of prey to me, with birds of prey circling against her on every side? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour. ¹⁰Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard; they have trampled my portion underfoot; 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, but no one takes it to heart. ¹²Over all the bare heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for my sword devours from one end of the land to the other; no one is safe. ¹³They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have worn themselves out for nothing. Be ashamed of your harvests, because of my burning anger.

¹⁴This is what our Father says: About all my evil neighbors seizing the inheritance I gave my people Israel—I will uproot them from their land, and uproot Judah's house from among them. ¹⁵After uprooting them, I will return, show them compassion, and bring each back to his inheritance, each to his land.

¹⁶If they truly learn my people's ways—swear by my name, 'As surely as your Father lives,' as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they'll be built among my people. ¹⁷But any nation that will not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy, declares your Father.