12" LORD, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Yet I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed?H6662H3068H7378H1696H4941H1870H7563H6743H7951H899H8982You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bear fruit. They always speak well of you, yet they do not really care about you.H5193H8327H3212H6213H6529H7138H6310H7350H36293But, LORD, you know me; you see what I do and how I love you. Drag these evil people away like sheep to be butchered; guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered.H3068H3045H7200H974H3820H5423H6629H2878H6942H3117H20284How long will our land be dry, and the grass in every field be withered? Animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of our people, people who say, 'God doesn't see what we are doing.' "H776H56H6212H7704H3001H7451H3427H929H5595H5775H559H7200H3195The LORD said, "Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you can't even stand up in open country, how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?H7323H7273H3811H8474H5483H776H7965H982H6213H1347H33836Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you; they join in the attacks against you. Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words."H251H1004H1H898H7121H4392H310H539H1696H2896
The Lord’s Sorrow because of His People
7The LORD says, "I have abandoned Israel; I have rejected my chosen nation. I have given the people I love into the power of their enemies.H5800H1004H5203H5159H5414H3033H5315H3709H3418My chosen people have turned against me; like a lion in the forest they have roared at me, and so I hate them.H5159H738H3293H5414H6963H81309My chosen people are like a bird attacked from all sides by hawks. Call the wild animals to come and join in the feast!H5159H6641H5861H5861H5439H3212H622H2416H7704H857H40210Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my fields; they have turned my lovely land into a desert.H7227H7462H7843H3754H947H2513H947H5414H2532H2513H8077H405711They have made it a wasteland; it lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares.H7760H8076H8077H56H776H8074H376H7760H382012Across all the desert highlands people have come to plunder. I have sent war to destroy the entire land; no one can live in peace.H7703H935H8205H4057H2719H3068H398H7097H776H7097H776H1320H796513My people planted wheat, but gathered weeds; they have worked hard, but got nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger their crops have failed."H2232H2406H7114H6975H2470H3276H954H8393H2740H639H3068
The Lord’s Promise to Israel’s Neighbors
14The LORD says, "I have something to say about Israel's neighbors who have ruined the land I gave to my people Israel. I will take those wicked people away from their countries like an uprooted plant, and I will rescue Judah from them.H559H3068H7451H7934H5060H5159H5971H3478H5157H5428H127H5428H1004H3063H843215But after I have taken them away, I will have mercy on them; I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country.H310H5428H7725H7355H7725H376H5159H376H77616If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear, 'As the LORD lives' - as they once taught my people to swear by Baal - then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper.H3925H3925H1870H5971H7650H8034H3068H2416H3925H5971H7650H1168H1129H8432H597117But if any nation will not obey, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it. I, the LORD, have spoken."H8085H5428H5428H6H1471H5002H3068