Jeremiah 12:1-5

New International Version

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous,^(A) Lord,
    when I bring a case^(B) before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:^(C)
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?^(D)
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
²You have planted^(E) them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.^(F)
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.^(G)
³Yet you know me, Lord;
    you see me and test^(H) my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep^(I) to be butchered!
    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!^(J)
⁴How long will the land lie parched^(K)
    and the grass in every field be withered?^(L)
Because those who live in it are wicked,
    the animals and birds have perished.^(M)
Moreover, the people are saying,
    “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵“If you have raced with men on foot
    and they have worn you out,
    how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble^[a] in safe country,
    how will you manage in the thickets^(N) by^[b] the Jordan?

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 12:5 Or you feel secure only
Jeremiah 12:5 Or the flooding of

Jeremiah 15:10-18

New International Version

¹⁰Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,^(A)
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!^(B)
I have neither lent^(C) nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses^(D) me.

¹¹The Lord said,

“Surely I will deliver you^(E) for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead^(F) with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.

¹²“Can a man break iron—
iron from the north^(G)—or bronze?

¹³“Your wealth^(H) and your treasures
    I will give as plunder,^(I) without charge,^(J)
because of all your sins
    throughout your country.^(K)
¹⁴I will enslave you to your enemies
    in^[a] a land you do not know,^(L)
for my anger will kindle a fire^(M)
    that will burn against you.”

¹⁵Lord, you understand;
    remember me and care for me.
    Avenge me on my persecutors.^(N)
You are long-suffering^(O)—do not take me away;
    think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.^(P)
¹⁶When your words came, I ate^(Q) them;
    they were my joy and my heart’s delight,^(R)
for I bear your name,^(S)
    Lord God Almighty.
¹⁷I never sat^(T) in the company of revelers,
    never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand^(U) was on me
    and you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unending
    and my wound grievous and incurable?^(V)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
    like a spring that fails.^(W)

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 15:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into