Jeremiah 12

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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 You would be in the right, O LORD, if I should dispute with you; even so, I must discuss the case with you. Why does the way of the godless prosper, why live all the treacherous in contentment?
2 You plant them, they take root, they flourish, yes, and bear fruit. You are on their lips, yet far from theirheart.	2 You planted them; they have taken root, they keep on growing and bearing fruit. You are upon their lips, but far from their inmost thoughts.
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 You, O Lord, know me, you see me, you have found that at heart I am with you. Pick them out like sheep for the slaughter, set them apart for the day of carnage.
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 must the earth mourn, the green of the whole countryside wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it beasts and birds disappear, because they say, "God does not see our ways."
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 running against men has wearied you, how will you race against horses? And if in a land of peace you fall headlong, what will you do in the thickets 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 your own brothers, the members of your father's house, betray you; they have recruited a force against you. Do not believe them, even if they are friendly to you in their words.
7 I have abandoned my house, left my heritage, I have delivered what I dearly loved into the clutches ofits enemies.	7 I abandon my house, cast off my heritage; The beloved of my soul I deliver into the hand of her foes.
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 heritage has turned on me like a lion in the jungle; Because she has roared against me, I treat her as an enemy.
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 My heritage is a prey for hyenas, is surrounded by vultures; Come, gather together, all you beasts of the field, come and eat!
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 shepherds have ravaged my vineyard, have trodden my heritage underfoot; The portion that delighted me they have turned into a desert waste.
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 made it a mournful waste, desolate it lies before me, Desolate, all the land, because no one takes it to 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 Upon every desert height brigands have come up. The LORD has a sword which consumes the land, from end to end: no peace for all mankind.
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 tired themselves out to no purpose; They recoil before their harvest, the flaming anger 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 says the LORD against all my evil neighbors who plunder the heritage which I gave my people Israel as their own: See, I will pluck them up from their land; the house of Judah I will pluck up in their midst.
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 But after plucking them up, I will pity them again and bring them back, each to his heritage, each 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 if they carefully learn my people's custom of swearing by my name, "As the LORD lives," they who formerly taught my people to swear by Baal 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 do not obey, I will uproot and destroy that nation entirely, says the LORD.
	19 Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: "Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more."
	20 But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!
	21 Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD; else you shall die by our hand."
	22 Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: I am going to punish them. The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and daughters shall die by famine.