Jeremiah 12:5-13
Christian Standard Bible
The Lord’s Response
5 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)
6 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.
7 I have abandoned my house;(D)
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have handed the love of my life
over to her enemies.
8 My inheritance has behaved toward me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against me.
Therefore, I hate her.(E)
9 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)
Jeremiah 12:5-13
Lexham English Bible
The Lord’s Reply
5 “If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary,
then how will you compete with horses?
If you have fallen in a peaceful land,[a]
then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6 For even your relatives, and the house of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you,
even they call loudly[b] after you.
You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.
7 I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance.
I have given the beloved one of my heart[c] into the hand of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest.
She has lifted up against me her voice; therefore[d] I hate her.
9 The lair of the hyena is my inheritance to me,
the birds of prey[e] are all around her.
Go, gather all of the animals[f] of the field,
bring them to come and devour.[g]
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my plot of land.
They have made my pleasant field[h]
like the desert[i] of desolation.
11 They have made it a desolation.
Desolate, it mourns to me.
All the land is made desolate,
but there is no person taking it to heart.
12 Upon all the barren heights in the desert[j] destroyers have come,
for the sword of Yahweh devours,
from one end of the land to the other end of the land,
there is no peace for all flesh.
13 They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns.
They are exhausted, they do not profit.
And they will be ashamed of your produce,
because of the burning anger[k] of Yahweh.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 12:5 Literally “a land of peace”
- Jeremiah 12:6 Literally “full”
- Jeremiah 12:7 Literally “soul”
- Jeremiah 12:8 Literally “unto thus”
- Jeremiah 12:9 Hebrew “bird of prey”
- Jeremiah 12:9 Hebrew “animal”
- Jeremiah 12:9 Literally “to food”
- Jeremiah 12:10 Literally “the plot of land of my desire”
- Jeremiah 12:10 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 12:12 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 12:13 Literally “the blaze of the nose”
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