Jeremiah 12 You are righteous, O LORD, when I contend with you. Yet I would reason the case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously?

VIN⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ You are righteous, O LORD, when I contend with you. Yet I would reason the case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously? ² You plant them, and they take root. They grow and bear fruit. You are near their lips, but far from their mind. ³ You know me, LORD. You see me and test my thoughts toward you. Pull the wicked out like sheep for slaughter; set them apart for the day of butchering. ⁴ How long shall the land be parched, and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, "He shall not see our latter end." ⁵ Indeed, if you run with others on foot, and they tire you out, how can you compete with horses? You are secure in a land at peace, but how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? ⁶ "Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you. They join in the attacks against you. Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words. ⁷ I'll forsake my house, I'll abandon my inheritance. I'll give the beloved of my heart into the hand of her enemies. ⁸ My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest to me. She roars at me; therefore, I hate her. ⁹ Is my inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to me? Are the other 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 made it a wasteland. It lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares. 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 for any person. 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 the LORD's fierce anger.” ¹⁴ This is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I've given to my people Israel as their inheritance. "I'm about to uproot them from their land, and I'll uproot the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ "But after I have taken them away I will have mercy on them. I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country. ¹⁶ If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: 'As surely as the LORD lives,' just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they'll be built up among my people. ¹⁷ But if they do not listen, then I will completely uproot and destroy that nation." declares the LORD.