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God Replies to Jeremiah

If you have raced with runners and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if you trust in a safe land,
    how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?(A)
For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.(B)

I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
    into the hands of her enemies.(C)
My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—
    therefore I hate her.(D)
Is the hawk hungry for my heritage?
    Are the vultures all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
    bring them to devour her.(E)
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.(F)
11 They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
    but no one lays it to heart.(G)
12 Upon all the bare heights[a] in the desert,
    spoilers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no one shall be safe.(H)
13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their[b] harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. 12.12 Or the trails
  2. 12.13 Heb your

The Lord’s Reply

If you have raced men on foot
and they have tired you out,
how will you compete against horses?
If you fall in open country,
how will you manage in the thickets along the Jordan?
Your relatives and the members of your father’s
    household have betrayed you.
They have raised a loud outcry against you.
Do not trust them when they speak friendly words to you.
I have abandoned my house.
I have forsaken my heritage.
I have given the one I love dearly into the hands of her enemies.
My heritage has become like a lion in the forest to me.
She roars at me, so I hate her.
For me my heritage has become like a howling hyena,
    surrounded by scavenging birds of prey.[a]
Go and gather all the wild animals.
Bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard
and trampled down my estate.
They will turn my pleasant estate into a desolate wasteland.
11 They have made it a wasteland.
It mourns. It is desolate before me.
The whole land is laid waste,
because there is no one who cares.
12 Looters are swarming over all the barren heights in the wilderness.
The Lord has a sword that devours from one end of the land
        to the other.
No one will be safe.
13 They plant wheat, but they reap thorns.
They wear themselves out, but they gain nothing.
Be ashamed of your harvests,
because of the burning anger of the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 12:9 Or like a speckled bird of prey, surrounded by other scavenging birds. The Hebrew of the verse is difficult.