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)

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Notas al pie

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

If you have raced with people and are worn out,
    how will you compete with horses?
If you fall down in an open field,[a]
    how will you survive in the forest along the Jordan?
Even your relatives, your very family,
    are planning to trap you.
        They are out to get you.
    So don’t trust them,
        even if they appear to be on your side.

God’s lament over Judah’s destruction

I have abandoned my house;
    I have deserted my inheritance.
    I have given the one I love
        into the power of her enemies.
My inheritance has turned against me
    like a lion in the forest;
        she growls at me;
            therefore, I have rejected her.
My inheritance has become
    like a bird of prey,
        surrounded and attacked.[b]
Go, gather all the wild animals for the feast.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my field;
    they have reduced my treasured field
        to a desolate wilderness.
11 They have devastated her;
    desolate, she cries out to me in distress:
        “The whole land is desolate,
        and no one seems to care.”
12 Over all the desert roads
    destroyers march;
        for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
        no one is safe.
13 They have sown wheat and reaped weeds;
    they have worn themselves out for nothing.
They will be ashamed of their[c] harvest
    on account of the Lord’s fierce anger.

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Notas al pie

  1. Jeremiah 12:5 Or If you are at ease only when in a peaceful land
  2. Jeremiah 12:9 Heb uncertain
  3. Jeremiah 12:13 Or your