Jeremiah’s Prayer
1 You, O Lordare [uncompromisingly] righteousandconsistently just when I plead my case with You;
Yet let me discuss issues of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
Why are those who deal in treachery (deceit) at easeandthriving?
2 You have planted them, they have also taken root;
They grow, they have even produced fruit.
You arehonored by their [hypocritical] lips
But [You are] far from their heartandmind.
3 But You, O Lord, know me [and understand my devotion to You];
You see me;
And You examinethe attitude ofmy heart toward You.
Drag out the faithless like sheep for the slaughter [O Lord]
And set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4 How long must the land mourn
And the grass of the countryside wither?
Because of the wickednessandhypocrisy of those who live in it,
The beasts and the birds are consumedandare swept away [by the drought],
Because men [mocking me] have said, “He will not [live long enough to] see [what happens at] our final end.”
5 [The Lordrebukes Jeremiah for his impatience, saying] “If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace [where you feel secure],
Then how will you do [among the lions] in the [flooded] thicket beside the Jordan?
6 “For even your [tribal] brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously (unfaithfully) with you;
Indeed they are [like a pack of hounds] howling after you.
Do not believe them, although they may say kind wordsandpromise you good things.”
God’s Answer
7 “I have abandoned My house,
I have given up My [precious] inheritance (Judah);
I have given the [dearly] beloved of My life
Into the hands of her enemies.
8 “My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has raised her voiceandroared against Me;
So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.
9 “Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me [unlike the others]?
Are the birds of prey (enemies) surrounding her on every side?
Go, gather all the [wild] beasts of the field;
Bring them to devour [her]!
10 “Many shepherds (invaders) have destroyed My vineyard (Judah),
They have trampled My field underfoot;
They have made My pleasant field
A desolate wilderness.
11 “They have made it a wasteland,
Desolate, it mourns before Me;
The whole land has been made a wasteland,
Because no man takes it to heart.
12 “Destroyers have come
On all the caravan roads in the desert,
For the sword of the Lord(Babylon) is devouring
From one end of the land even to the other;
No one has peaceora way of escape.
13 “They have planted wheat but have reaped thorns;
They have exhausted themselves but without profit.
So be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierceandraging anger of the Lord.”
14 Thus says the Lordregarding all My evil neighbors (Gentile nations) who strike at the inheritance which I have granted to My people Israel, “Behold, I will uproot them from their land and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
15 And it shall come about that after I have uprooted them, I will returnandhave compassion on them; and I will bring them back again, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.
16 And if these [neighboring nations] will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, saying, ‘As the Lordlives’–even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up among My people.
17 But if [any nation] will not listenandobey, I will [completely] uproot and destroy that nation, says the Lord.”