Add parallel Print Page Options

“If you have run with the footmen,
    and they have wearied you,
    then how can you contend with horses?
Though in a land of peace you are secure,
    yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?
For even your brothers, and the house of your father,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you!
    Even they have cried aloud after you!
Don’t believe them,
    though they speak beautiful words to you.

“I have forsaken my house.
    I have cast off my heritage.
    I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest.
    She has uttered her voice against me.
    Therefore I have hated her.
Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey?
    Are the birds of prey against her all around?
Go, assemble all the animals of the field.
    Bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard.
    They have trodden my portion under foot.
    They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a desolation.
    It mourns to me, being desolate.
The whole land is made desolate,
    because no one cares.
12 Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness;
    for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land.
    No flesh has peace.
13 They have sown wheat,
    and have reaped thorns.
They have exhausted themselves,
    and profit nothing.
You will be ashamed of your fruits,
    because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.”

Read full chapter

God’s Reply to Jeremiah

Indeed, if you run with others on foot,
    and they tire you out,
        how can you compete with horses?
You are secure[a] in a land at peace,
    but how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
Indeed, even your brothers and your father’s family
    conspire against you.
Even they cry out after you loudly.
    Don’t believe them, even though they speak friendly words to you.
I’ll forsake my house,
    I’ll abandon my inheritance.
I’ll give the beloved of my heart
    into the hand of her enemies.
My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest to me.
    She roars at me; therefore, I hate her.
Is my inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to me?
    Are the other[b] birds of prey all around her coming against her?
Go, gather all the wild animals and
    bring them to devour it.
10 Many shepherds will destroy my vineyard.
    They’ll trample down my portion.
They’ll turn my pleasant portion
    into a desolate desert.
11 They’ll make it into a desolate place,
    and, desolate, it will cry out in mourning to me.
The whole land will be desolate
    because no one takes it to heart.
12 On all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will come.
Indeed, a sword of the Lord will devour from
    one end of the land to the other.
There will be no peace[c] for any person.[d]
13 They have sown wheat,
    but they have harvested thorns.
They have tired themselves out,
    but they don’t show a profit.
Now be disappointed about your harvest
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 12:5 Or You trust
  2. Jeremiah 12:9 The Heb. lacks other
  3. Jeremiah 12:12 Or safety
  4. Jeremiah 12:12 Lit. for all flesh