Jeremiah 12

1You are righteous, O Yahweh, when I bring a case before you; yet I would speak with you about matters of justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all who deal treacherously at ease?

2You planted them; they have even taken root. They grow; they even produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, but far from their innermost being.

3But you, O Yahweh, know me; you see me, and you test my heart toward you. Pull them out 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 dry up? Because of the evil of those who dwell in it, beasts and birds are swept away, for they say, “He will not see our end.”

5If you have run with footmen and they have worn you out, then how will you compete with horses? And if in a land of peace you feel secure, then what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

6For even your brothers and your father’s house—even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have called out loudly after you. Do not trust them, though they speak good things to you.

7I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my inheritance; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her.

9Is my inheritance to me a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour.

10Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard; they have trampled my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

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

12Upon all the bare heights in the wilderness destroyers have come, for the sword of Yahweh is devouring from one end of the land to the other end of the land; there is no peace for any flesh.

13They have sown wheat, but they have reaped thorns; they have exhausted themselves, but they profit nothing. Be ashamed of your produce because of the burning anger of Yahweh.

14Thus says Yahweh concerning all my wicked neighbors who touch the inheritance that I caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I am about to uproot them from upon their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

15And it will happen, after I have uprooted them, that I will return and have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each man to his inheritance and each man to his land.

16And it will happen that if they indeed learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.

17But if they do not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uprooting and destroying it, declares Yahweh.