The Lord’s Response

If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[a] in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?(A)
Even your brothers—your own father’s family—
even they were treacherous to you;(B)
even they have cried out loudly after you.(C)
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.

I have abandoned my house;(D)
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have handed the love of my life
over to her enemies.
My inheritance has behaved toward me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me.
Therefore, I hate her.(E)
Is my inheritance like a hyena[b] to me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;(F)
bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled my plot of land.(G)
They have turned my desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.(H)
12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.(I)
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.(J)
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.(K)
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 12:5 Or you are secure
  2. 12:9 Hb obscure

The Lord’s Response

If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[a] in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?(A)
Even your brothers—your own father’s household—
even they were treacherous to you;(B)
even they have cried out loudly after you.(C)
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.

I have abandoned My house;(D)
I have deserted My inheritance.
I have given the love of My life
into the hands of her enemies.
My inheritance has acted toward Me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against Me.
Therefore, I hate her.(E)
Is My inheritance like a hyena[b] to Me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;(F)
bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;
they have trampled My plot of land.(G)
They have turned My desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before Me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.(H)
12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the Lord has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.(I)
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.(J)
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.(K)
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the Lord’s burning anger.(L)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 12:5 Or you are secure
  2. Jeremiah 12:9 Hb obscure