New Living Translation

New King James Version

Jeremiah Questions the LORD’s Justice

LORD, you always give me justice
when I bring a case before you.
So let me bring you this complaint:
Why are the wicked so prosperous?
Why are evil people so happy?

1

Jeremiah’s Question

Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?

2

You have planted them,
and they have taken root and prospered.
Your name is on their lips,
but you are far from their hearts.

2

You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
You are near in their mouth
But far from their [a]mind.

3

But as for me, LORD, you know my heart.
You see me and test my thoughts.
Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered!
Set them aside to be slaughtered!

3

But You, O Lord, know me;
You have seen me,
And You have tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for the day of slaughter.

4

How long must this land mourn?
Even the grass in the fields has withered.
The wild animals and birds have disappeared
because of the evil in the land.
For the people have said,
“The LORD doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”
The LORD’s Reply to Jeremiah

4

How long will the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
The beasts and birds are consumed,
For the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”

5

“If racing against mere men makes you tired,
how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground,
what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?

5

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in the [b]floodplain of the Jordan?

6

Even your brothers, members of your own family,
have turned against you.
They plot and raise complaints against you.
Do not trust them,
no matter how pleasantly they speak.

6

For even your brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called [c]a multitude after you.
Do not believe them,
Even though they speak [d]smooth words to you.

7

“I have abandoned my people, my special possession.
I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.

7

“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.

8

My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest,
so I have treated them with contempt.

8

My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have hated it.

9

My chosen people act like speckled vultures,a
but they themselves are surrounded by vultures.
Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!

9

My [e]heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
Bring them to devour!

10

“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard,
trampling down the vines
and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.

10

“Many rulers[f] have destroyed My vineyard,
They have trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My [g]pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

11

They have made it an empty wasteland;
I hear its mournful cry.
The whole land is desolate,
and no one even cares.

11

They have made it desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because no one takes it to heart.

12

On all the bare hilltops,
destroying armies can be seen.
The sword of the LORD devours people
from one end of the nation to the other.
No one will escape!

12

The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.

13

My people have planted wheat
but are harvesting thorns.
They have worn themselves out,
but it has done them no good.
They will harvest a crop of shame
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

13

They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have [h]put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

14

A Message for Israel’s Neighbors

Now this is what the LORD says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.

14

Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit — behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

15

But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.

15

Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.

16

And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.

16

And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.

17

But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

17

But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.

Parallel

New Living Translation

New King James Version

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah 12