Jeremiah 12:5-13

English Standard Version

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

⁵“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in ^(A)the thicket of the Jordan?
⁶For ^(B)even your brothers and the house of your father,
    ^(C)even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
^(D)do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.”

⁷“I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned ^(E)my heritage;
I have given ^(F)the beloved of my soul
    into the hands of her enemies.
⁸^(G)My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
    therefore I hate her.
⁹Is ^(H)my heritage to me like ^(I)a hyena's lair?
    Are the ^(J)birds of prey against her all around?
Go, ^(K)assemble all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    ^(L)they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, ^(M)it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
    ^(N)but no man lays it to heart.
¹²Upon all the bare heights in the desert
    destroyers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no flesh has peace.
¹³^(O)They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    ^(P)they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their^[a] harvests
    ^(Q)because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”