Jeremiah 12:5-13

New American Standard Bible

⁵“If you have run with infantrymen and they have tired you out,
How can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the ^(A)thicket by the Jordan?
⁶For even your ^(B)brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you,
Even they have called aloud after you.
Do not believe them, though they say ^(C)nice things to you.”

God’s Answer

⁷“I have ^(D)forsaken My house,
I have abandoned My inheritance;
I have handed the ^(E)beloved of My soul
Over to her enemies.
⁸My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has ^[a]^(F)roared against Me;
Therefore I have come to ^(G)hate her.
⁹Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
Are the ^(H)birds of prey against her on every side?
Go, gather all the ^(I)animals of the field,
Bring them to devour!
¹⁰Many ^(J)shepherds have ruined My ^(K)vineyard,
They have ^(L)trampled down My field;
They have made My ^(M)pleasant field
A desolate wilderness.
¹¹^[b]It has been made a desolation;
Desolate, it ^(N)mourns ^[c]before Me;
The ^(O)whole land has been made desolate,
Because no one ^(P)takes it to heart.
¹²On all the ^[d]^(Q)bare heights in the wilderness
Destroyers have come,
For the ^(R)sword of the Lord is devouring
From one end of the land even to the ^[e]other;
There is ^(S)no peace for ^[f]anyone.
¹³They have ^(T)sown wheat but have harvested thorns,
They have ^(U)strained themselves ^[g]to no profit.
So be ashamed of your ^(V)produce
Because of the ^(W)fierce anger of the Lord.”