12 Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee:
yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments:
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?
wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
² Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root:
they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit:
thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
³ But thou, O Lord, knowest me:
thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee:
pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
⁴ How long shall the land mourn,
and the herbs of every field wither,
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?
the beasts are consumed, and the birds;
because they said, He shall not see our last end.

⁵ If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,
then how canst thou contend with horses?
and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee,
then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
⁶ For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father,
even they have dealt treacherously with thee;
yea, they have called a multitude after thee:
believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

⁷ I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
⁸ Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest;
it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
⁹ Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,
the birds round about are against her;
come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
¹⁰ Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trodden my portion under foot,
they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
¹¹ They have made it desolate,
and being desolate it mourneth unto me;
the whole land is made desolate,
because no man layeth it to heart.
¹² The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness:
for the sword of the Lord shall devour
from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land:
no flesh shall have peace.
¹³ They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns:
they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit:
and they shall be ashamed of your revenues
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

¹⁵ Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud:
for the Lord hath spoken.
¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness,
and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains,
and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death,
and make it gross darkness.
¹⁷ But if ye will not hear it,
my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride;
and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears,
because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.

¹⁸ Say unto the king and to the queen,
Humble yourselves, sit down:
for your principalities shall come down,
even the crown of your glory.
¹⁹ The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them:
Judah shall be carried away captive all of it,
it shall be wholly carried away captive.
²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north:
where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
²¹ What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?
for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee:
shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

²² And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me?
For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered,
and thy heels made bare.
²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
²⁴ Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble
that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
²⁵ This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord;
because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
²⁶ Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face,
that thy shame may appear.
²⁷ I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings,
the lewdness of thy whoredom,
and thine abominations on the hills in the fields.
Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!
wilt thou not be made clean?
when shall it once be?

² Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish;
they are black unto the ground;
and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
³ And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters:
they came to the pits, and found no water;
they returned with their vessels empty;
they were ashamed and confounded,
and covered their heads.
⁴ Because the ground is chapt,
for there was no rain in the earth,
the plowmen were ashamed,
they covered their heads.
⁵ Yea, the hind also calved in the field,
and forsook it, because there was no grass.
⁶ And the wild asses did stand in the high places,
they snuffed up the wind like dragons;
their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

⁷ O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
do thou it for thy name’s sake:
for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against thee.
⁸ O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble,
why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land,
and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
⁹ Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied,
as a mighty man that cannot save?
yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us,
and we are called by thy name;
leave us not.

⁵ How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever?
shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee,
and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
⁸ O remember not against us former iniquities:
let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us:
for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name:
and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
¹⁰ Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?
let him be known among the heathen in our sight
by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

¹¹ Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee;
according to the greatness of thy power
preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
¹² and render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom
their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
¹³ So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever:
we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

³⁰ I went by the field of the slothful,
and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
³¹ and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
and nettles had covered the face thereof,
and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
³² Then I saw, and considered it well:
I looked upon it, and received instruction.
³³ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep:
³⁴ so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth;
and thy want as an armed man.