12:1 You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
12:2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
12:3 Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
12:4 How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.”
12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
12:6 Your brothers, your own family–even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
12:7 “I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies.
12:8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She roars at me; therefore I hate her.
12:9 Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
12:10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
12:11 It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.
12:12 Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.
12:13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. So bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD’S fierce anger.”
12:14 This is what the LORD says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
12:15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country.
12:16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’–even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal–then they will be established among my people.
12:17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD.
12:1 You are righteous, O Jehovah, / When I plead my cause with You; / Yet I will speak with You of Your judgments: / Why does the way of the wicked prosper? / Why are all those who deal treacherously at ease?
12:2 You have planted them; they have also taken root; / They go on and bring forth fruit. / You are near, in their mouth, / But far from their inward parts.
12:3 And You, O Jehovah, know me; You see me / And try my heart toward You. / Pull them out like sheep for the slaying, / And set them apart for the day of slaughter.
12:4 How long will the land mourn / And the grass of every field dry up? / Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it, / Beasts and birds are swept away, / Because they said, He will not see our end.
12:5 If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, / How then will you compete with horses? / If you are secure in a land of peace, / How then will you do in the majesty of the Jordan?
12:6 For even your brothers and the house of your father, / Even they have dealt treacherously with you; / Even they have cried aloud after you. / Do not believe them, although they speak good things to you.
12:7 I have forsaken My house; / I have abandoned My inheritance; / I have given the beloved of My soul / Into the hand of her enemies.
12:8 My inheritance has become to Me / Like a lion in the forest; / She lifted up her voice against Me, / Therefore I hated her.
12:9 Is My inheritance a speckled bird of prey to Me? / Are the birds of prey against her all around? / Go, gather all the beasts of the field; / Bring them to devour.
12:10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; / They have trampled down My portion; / They have made My pleasant portion / A desolate wilderness.
12:11 They have made it a desolation; / Desolate, it mourns to Me; / The whole land has been desolated / Because no one lays it to heart.
12:12 Upon all the bare heights in the wilderness / Destroyers have come, For the sword of Jehovah devours / From one end of the land to the other end of the land; / No flesh has peace.
12:13 They have sown wheat, and they reap thorns; / They have worn themselves out, but they profit nothing; / Therefore be ashamed of your produce / Because of the burning anger of Jehovah.
12:14 Thus says Jehovah concerning all My evil neighbors, who have touched the inheritance which I caused My people Israel to inherit, I am about to pluck them up out of their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah out from their midst.
12:15 And after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them and bring them again, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.
12:16 And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, saying, As Jehovah lives, even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people.
12:17 But if they do not listen, I will pluck up that nation, plucking it up and destroying it, declares Jehovah.