Jeremiah 12

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Your uprightness is too great, Yahweh, for me to dispute with you. But I should like to discuss somepoints of justice with you: Why is it that the way of the wicked prospers? Why do al treacherous people thrive?	1 Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?
2 You plant them, they take root, they flourish, yes, and bear fruit. You are on their lips, yet far from theirheart.	2 Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3 You know me, Yahweh, you see me, you probe my heart, which is close to yours. Drag them off likesheep for the slaughterhouse, reserve them for the day of butchery.	3 And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my heart with thee: gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 (How long will the land be in mourning, and the grass wither all over the countryside? The animals andbirds are dying as a result of the wickedness of the inhabitants.) For they say, 'God does not see our fate.'	4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end.
5 'If you find it exhausting to race against me on foot, how wil you compete against horses? In a countryat peace you feel secure, but how wil you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?	5 If thou hast wearied with running with footmen, how canst thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?
6 'For even your brothers and your own family will betray you. They will pursue you in ful cry. Put no faithin them when they speak you fair!'	6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice: believe them not when they speak good things to thee.
7 I have abandoned my house, left my heritage, I have delivered what I dearly loved into the clutches ofits enemies.	7 I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have given my dear soul into the land of her enemies.
8 To me, my heritage has behaved like a lion in the forest, it roared at me ferociously: so I now hate it.	8 My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: is hath cried out against me, therefore have I hated it.
9 I see my heritage as a brightly-coloured bird of prey attacked by birds of prey on every side! Go,assemble al the wild animals, make them come and dine!	9 Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? Is it as a bird died throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all the beasts of the earth, make haste to devour.
10 Many shepherds have laid my vineyard waste, have trampled over my plot of land, the plot of landwhich was my joy, reducing my favourite estate to a deserted wilderness.	10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a waste; wasted, it mourns before me. The whole country has been devastatedand no one takes it to heart.	11 They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart.
12 The devastators have arrived on all the bare heights of the desert (for Yahweh wields a devouringsword); from one end of the country to the other, there is no peace for any living thing.	12 The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh.
13 Wheat they have sown, thorns they reap: they have worn themselves out, to no profit. They aredisappointed in their harvests, because of Yahweh's burning anger.	13 They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.
14 Yahweh says this, 'As regards al my evil neighbours who have laid hands on the heritage I grantedmy people Israel, look, I shal uproot them from their soil, (though I shall uproot the House of Judah from amongthem).	14 Thus saith the Lord against all my wicked neighbors, that touch the inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I will pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda out of the midst of them.
15 But having uprooted them, I shall take pity on them again and bring them back each to its ownheritage, each to its own country,	15 And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have mercy on them: and I will bring them back, every man to his inheritance, and every man to his land.
16 and if they carefully learn my people's ways and swear by my name, "As Yahweh lives", as they havetaught my people to swear by Baal, then they wil be re-established among my people.	16 And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But if any nation refuses to listen, I shall uproot it for ever and destroy it, Yahweh declares.'	17 But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.