Jeremiah 12

¹You will be in the right, O Lord,

when I lay charges against you;

but let me put my case to you.

Why does the way of the guilty prosper?

Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

²You plant them, and they take root;

they grow and bring forth fruit;

you are near in their mouths

yet far from their hearts.

³But you, O Lord, know me;

You see me and test me—my heart is with you.

Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,

and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

⁴How long will the land mourn,

and the grass of every field wither?

For the wickedness of those who live in it

the animals and the birds are swept away,

and because people said, “He is blind to our ways.”

⁵If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,

how will you compete with horses?

And if in a safe land you fall down,

how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?

⁶For even your kinsfolk and your own family,

even they have dealt treacherously with you;

they are in full cry after you;

do not believe them,

though they speak friendly 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.

⁸My heritage has become to me

like a lion in the forest;

she has lifted up her voice against me—

therefore I hate her.

⁹Is the hyena greedy for my heritage at my command?

Are the birds of prey all around her?

Go, assemble all the wild animals;

bring them to devour her.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,

they have trampled down my portion,

they have made my pleasant portion

a desolate wilderness.

¹¹They have made it a desolation;

desolate, it mourns to me.

The whole land is made desolate,

but no one lays it to heart.

¹²Upon all the bare heights in the desert

spoilers have come;

for the sword of the Lord devours

from one end of the land to the other;

no one shall be safe.

¹³They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,

they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.

They shall be ashamed of their harvests

because of the fierce anger of the Lord.