12You 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?H6662H3068H7378H1696H4941H1870H7563H6743H7951H899H8982You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bring forth fruit; you are near in their mouths yet far from their hearts.H5193H8327H3212H6213H6529H7138H6310H7350H36293But 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.H3068H3045H7200H974H3820H5423H6629H2878H6942H3117H20284How 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."H776H56H6212H7704H3001H7451H3427H929H5595H5775H559H7200H319
God Replies to Jeremiah
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?H7323H7273H3811H8474H5483H776H7965H982H6213H1347H33836For 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.H251H1004H1H898H7121H4392H310H539H1696H28967I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my heart into the hands of her enemies.H5800H1004H5203H5159H5414H3033H5315H3709H3418My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me—therefore I hate her.H5159H738H3293H5414H6963H81309Is 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.H5159H6641H5861H5861H5439H3212H622H2416H7704H857H40210Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my portion, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.H7227H7462H7843H3754H947H2513H947H5414H2532H2513H8077H405711They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no one lays it to heart.H7760H8076H8077H56H776H8074H376H7760H382012Upon 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.H7703H935H8205H4057H2719H3068H398H7097H776H7097H776H1320H796513They 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.H2232H2406H7114H6975H2470H3276H954H8393H2740H639H306814Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.H559H3068H7451H7934H5060H5159H5971H3478H5157H5428H127H5428H1004H3063H843215And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again to their heritage and to their land, everyone of them.H310H5428H7725H7355H7725H376H5159H376H77616And then, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, "As the LORD lives," as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.H3925H3925H1870H5971H7650H8034H3068H2416H3925H5971H7650H1168H1129H8432H597117But if any nation will not listen, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it, says the LORD.H8085H5428H5428H6H1471H5002H3068
