Jeremiah 12:5-13

New Living Translation

The Lord’s Reply to Jeremiah

⁵“If racing against mere men makes you tired,
    how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground,
    what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
⁶Even your brothers, members of your own family,
    have turned against you.
    They plot and raise complaints against you.
Do not trust them,
    no matter how pleasantly they speak.

⁷“I have abandoned my people, my special possession.
    I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
⁸My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest,
    so I have treated them with contempt.
⁹My chosen people act like speckled vultures,^[a]
    but they themselves are surrounded by vultures.
    Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!

¹⁰“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard,
    trampling down the vines
    and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
¹¹They have made it an empty wasteland;
    I hear its mournful cry.
The whole land is desolate,
    and no one even cares.
¹²On all the bare hilltops,
    destroying armies can be seen.
The sword of the Lord devours people
    from one end of the nation to the other.
    No one will escape!
¹³My people have planted wheat
    but are harvesting thorns.
They have worn themselves out,
    but it has done them no good.
They will harvest a crop of shame
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”