UST JER Chapter 12

◄ JER 12 ► ║ ═ ©

12 Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy about what is happening to me,

you always act justly.

So now allow me to ask about one more thing that I do not understand:

Why are wicked people prosperous?

Why do things go very well for all the dishonest people?

2 You allow them to prosper

like trees that have taken root and grown tall and produced much fruit.

They say good things about you,

but in their inner beings, they really do not care about you.

3 But you, Yahweh, you know me very well.

You see what I do and you know what I am thinking about regarding you.

So drag away those wicked people,

like people drag away sheep that they are going to butcher.

Set them aside like sheep that are about to be slaughtered!

4 This land has become very dry and the grass in every field is withered

because of the evil behavior of the people who live in it.

The wild animals and the birds are dying

because the people have said,

“Yahweh will not see what will happen to us!”

5 Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me,

“It is as though you have become exhausted from racing against men;

so you will not be able to race against horses!

If you feel safe only in a peaceful land,

then you will not be able to handle the thickets by the Jordan River.

6 For even your brothers and other members of your own family oppose you.

They plan to do evil things to you and say bad things about you.

So even if they say nice things about you,

do not trust them!

7 I have abandoned my Israelite people,

the people whom I chose to belong to me.

I have allowed their enemies to conquer the people whom I love.

8 My people have become to me like a lion in the forest.

The way they speak against me is as though they were roaring at me like a lion,

so now I hate them.

9 My chosen people have become like spotted birds of prey that attack me.

However, the soldiers from other nations will surround them like birds of prey waiting to eat their flesh.

Go and tell all the soldiers from the nations who are like wild animals to come

and destroy them.

10 Many rulers from other countries have come with their armies and have devastated my people

whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his vineyard.

Those rulers have trampled down the land that is mine;

they have caused my beautiful land to become a barren wilderness where no one lives.

11 They have caused it to become completely empty;

it is as though I hear the land crying mournfully.

The whole land is desolate,

and no one is concerned about it.

12 The soldiers of our enemies have marched across all the barren hilltops in the wilderness.

because I, Yahweh, am using those armies to punish the people throughout your land,

and no one will escape.

13 My people planted wheat,

but they have harvested thorns.

They have become very tired because of much hard work,

but they have gained nothing from all that work.

You should feel ashamed by your meager harvests

that I have caused because you have made me, Yahweh, very angry.”

14 This is also what Yahweh said to me about all the wicked nations that surround us and attack our land Yahweh gave us, his people, to possess: “I will punish the evil nearby nations by forcing them to leave their land and I will take the people of Judah out of their lands. 15 But later, after I have removed them from their land, I will act mercifully toward those nations and I will bring them back, each one to his own inheritance and each one will come back to their own land. 16 And if the people of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel will learn the religious practices of my people, to solemnly promise that they will do something by me, saying, ‘As Yahweh lives’ like how they taught my people to do by their god Baal, then I will cause them to become prosperous and to be my people. 17 But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me. Yes, I will expel and destroy that nation and its people.” That will surely happen because Yahweh, has said it.