Jeremiah 12

1You are in the right, LORD, whenever I bring a case against you; still, I must set my charges before you: Why does the way of the wicked succeed? Why do all the faithless live untroubled? 2You planted them, and they have taken root; they flourish and bear fruit. You are near in their mouths but far from their inmost being. 3But you, LORD, know me; you see me and test how my heart stands toward you. Drag them away like sheep to be slaughtered; set them apart for the day of killing.

4How long will the land mourn and the plants of every field dry up? Because of the evil of those who live in it, animals and birds have perished, for the people say, “He will not see what becomes of us.” 5If you have raced with runners on foot and they have worn you out, how will you keep pace with horses? If you feel secure only in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thick brush along the Jordan? 6Your brothers too, the household of your own father, even they have broken faith with you; they too have raised a loud outcry against you. Do not believe them, though they speak kindly to you.

7I have left my house; I have cast off my inheritance. I have handed the one I love with all my heart over to her enemies. 8My inheritance has turned on me like a lion in the forest; she roars against me, and so I have come to hate her. 9Has my inheritance become to me a speckled bird of prey, set upon by birds of prey on every side? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to eat. 10Many shepherds have wrecked my vineyard and trampled down my field; they have turned the field I delight in into an empty wilderness. 11It has been made a desolation; ruined, it mourns before me. The whole land lies desolate, because no one takes it to heart. 12Destroyers have swept over all the bare hills in the wilderness, for the sword of the LORD is eating its way from one end of the land to the other; no living thing has peace.

13They sowed wheat but reaped thorns; they wore themselves out for nothing. Be ashamed of your harvests, because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

14The LORD says this concerning all my wicked neighbors who lay hands on the inheritance I gave my people Israel to possess: Look, I am going to uproot them from their own soil, and the house of Judah I will uproot from their midst. 15But after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to their own inheritance and each one to their own land. 16And if they will truly learn the ways of my people, swearing by my name, “As surely as the LORD lives,” as they themselves once taught my people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of my people. 17But if they will not listen, I will uproot that nation, uprooting it and destroying it completely, declares the LORD.