Jeremiah 12:5-13

New International Version

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^(A) by^[b] the Jordan?
⁶Your relatives, members of your own family—
    even they have betrayed you;
    they have raised a loud cry against you.^(B)
Do not trust them,
    though they speak well of you.^(C)

⁷“I will forsake^(D) my house,
    abandon^(E) my inheritance;
I will give the one I love^(F)
    into the hands of her enemies.^(G)
⁸My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion^(H) in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.^(I)
⁹Has not my inheritance become to me
    like a speckled bird of prey
    that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.^(J)
¹⁰Many shepherds^(K) will ruin my vineyard
    and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
    into a desolate wasteland.^(L)
¹¹It will be made a wasteland,^(M)
    parched and desolate before me;^(N)
the whole land will be laid waste
    because there is no one who cares.
¹²Over all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will swarm,
for the sword^(O) of the Lord^(P) will devour^(Q)
    from one end of the land to the other;^(R)
    no one will be safe.^(S)
¹³They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
    they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.^(T)
They will bear the shame of their harvest
    because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”^(U)