Jeremiah 12

12 ¹ You 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? ² You planted them, and they took root; they grow and bear fruit. You are near in their mouths but far from their hearts. ³ But 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. ⁴ How 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

⁵ If 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? ⁶ For 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. ⁷ I 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. ⁸ My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has roared against me, and so I have turned against her. ⁹ Is 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. ¹⁰ Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard; they have trampled my portion underfoot; they have turned my pleasant portion into a desolate wilderness. ¹¹ They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns before me. The whole land is laid waste, but no one takes it to heart. ¹² Over 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. ¹³ They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have worn themselves out for nothing. Be ashamed of your harvests, because of my burning anger.

¹⁴ This is what our Father says: As for all my evil neighbors who seize the inheritance that I gave my people Israel to possess — I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ But after I have uprooted them, my heart will turn back to them with compassion, and I will bring them home again, each to his own inheritance and each to his own land. ¹⁶ And if they will diligently learn the ways of my people — to swear by my name, "As surely as your Father 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 any nation will not listen, then I will utterly uproot and destroy it, declares your Father.