Jeremiah 12:1
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Jeremiah Complains to God
12 You 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?(A)
Malachi 3:15
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15 Now we count the arrogant happy; evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the test they escape.”(A)
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Psalm 92:7
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7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever,(A)
Psalm 37:1
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Psalm 37
Exhortation to Patience and Trust
Of David.
1 Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,(A)
Daniel 9:7
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7 “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.(A)
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Job 12:6
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6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.[a](A)
Footnotes
- 12.6 Or whom God brought forth by his hand; meaning of Heb uncertain
Habakkuk 1:4
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4 So the law becomes slack,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous;
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.(A)
Psalm 73:3-28
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3 For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(A)
4 For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.(B)
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.(C)
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.(D)
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.(E)
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.
10 Therefore the people turn and praise them[a]
and find no fault in them.[b]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”(F)
12 Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.(G)
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.(H)
14 For all day long I have been plagued
and am punished every morning.(I)
15 If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,(J)
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.(K)
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.(L)
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!(M)
20 They are[c] like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms.(N)
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast toward you.(O)
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me with honor.[d](P)
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.(Q)
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[e] of my heart and my portion forever.(R)
27 Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
you put an end to those who are false to you.(S)
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
to tell of all your works.(T)
Psalm 51:4
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4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.(A)
Psalm 37:35
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Footnotes
- 37.35 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
Zephaniah 3:5
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5 The Lord within it is righteous;
he does no wrong.
Every morning he renders his judgment,
each dawn without fail,
but the unjust knows no shame.(A)
Habakkuk 1:13-17
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13 Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
and you cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do you look on the treacherous
and are silent when the wicked swallow
those more righteous than they?(A)
14 You have made people like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.(B)
15 He brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his seine,
so he rejoices and exults.(C)
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his seine,
for by them his portion is lavish,
and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net
and destroying nations without mercy?(D)
Jeremiah 11:20
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20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(A)
Psalm 94:3-4
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3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?(A)
4 They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.(B)
Job 21:7-15
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7 Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?(A)
8 Their children are established in their presence
and their offspring before their eyes.(B)
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.(C)
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.(D)
11 They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.(E)
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.(F)
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.(G)
15 What is the Almighty,[a] that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’(H)
Footnotes
- 21.15 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
Jeremiah 12:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 For 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.(A)
Jeremiah 5:27-28
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27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich;(A)
28 they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no limits in deeds of wickedness;
they do not judge with justice
the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.(B)
Jeremiah 5:11
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11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly faithless to me,
says the Lord.(A)
Job 13:3
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Footnotes
- 13.3 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
Ezra 9:15
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15 O Lord, God of Israel, you are just, but we have escaped as a remnant, as is now the case. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this.”(A)
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Romans 3:5-6
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5 But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)(A) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
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Hosea 6:7
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7 But at[a] Adam they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.
Footnotes
- 6.7 Cn: Heb like
Isaiah 48:8
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8 You have never heard; you have never known;
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would act very treacherously
and that from birth you were called a rebel.(A)
Isaiah 41:21
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The Futility of Idols
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.(A)
Proverbs 1:32
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32 For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.