Jeremiah 12:1-14:10

New King James Version

Jeremiah’s Question

12 Righteous ^(A)are You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
^(B)Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
²You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
^(C)You are near in their mouth
But far from their ^[a]mind.

³But You, O Lord, ^(D)know me;
You have seen me,
And You have ^(E)tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for ^(F)the day of slaughter.
⁴How long will ^(G)the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
^(H)The beasts and birds are consumed,
^(I)For the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

⁵“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in ^(J)the ^[b]floodplain of the Jordan?
⁶For even ^(K)your brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called ^[c]a multitude after you.
^(L)Do not believe them,
Even though they speak ^[d]smooth words to you.

⁷“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
⁸My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have ^(M)hated it.
⁹My ^[e]heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
^(N)Bring them to devour!

¹⁰“Many ^(O)rulers^[f] have destroyed ^(P)My vineyard,
They have ^(Q)trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My ^[g]pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it ^(R)desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because ^(S)no one takes it to heart.
¹²The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
¹³^(T)They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have ^[h]put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who ^(U)touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will ^(V)pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵^(W)Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them ^(X)and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. ¹⁶And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, ^(Y)to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be ^(Z)established in the midst of My people. ¹⁷But if they do not ^(AA)obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.

Symbol of the Linen Sash

13 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it ^[i]around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I got a ^[j]sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.

³And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, ⁴“Take the ^[k]sash that you acquired, which is ^[l]around your waist, and arise, go to the ^[m]Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the ^[n]sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner ^(AB)I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great ^(AC)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who ^(AD)refuse to hear My words, who ^(AE)follow^[o] the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(AF)they may become My people, ^(AG)for renown, for praise, and for ^(AH)glory; but they would ^(AI)not hear.’

Symbol of the Wine Bottles

¹²“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’

“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’

¹³“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—^(AJ)with drunkenness! ¹⁴And ^(AK)I will dash them ^[p]one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

Pride Precedes Captivity

¹⁵Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(AL)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes ^(AM)darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are ^(AN)looking for light,
He turns it into ^(AO)the shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
¹⁷But if you will not hear it,
My soul will ^(AP)weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to ^(AQ)the king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
¹⁹The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.

²⁰Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the ^(AR)north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not ^(AS)pangs seize you,
Like a woman in ^[q]labor?
²²And if you say in your heart,
^(AT)“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
^(AU)Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels ^[r]made bare.
²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴“Therefore I will ^(AV)scatter them ^(AW)like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
²⁵^(AX)This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in ^(AY)falsehood.
²⁶Therefore ^(AZ)I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
²⁷I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful ^(BA)neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations ^(BB)on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be made clean?”

Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

²“Judah mourns,
And ^(BC)her gates languish;
They ^(BD)mourn for the land,
And ^(BE)the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
³Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were ^(BF)ashamed and confounded
^(BG)And covered their heads.
⁴Because the ground is parched,
For there was ^(BH)no rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
⁵Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But ^[s]left because there was no grass.
⁶And ^(BI)the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

⁷O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
Do it ^(BJ)for Your name’s sake;
For our backslidings are many,
We have sinned against You.
⁸^(BK)O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,
Why should You be like a stranger in the land,
And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should You be like a man astonished,
Like a mighty one ^(BL)who cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, ^(BM)are in our midst,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people:

^(BN)“Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the Lord does not accept them;
^(BO)He will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins.”