CHAPTER 12
Righteous
are You,
O LORD,
when
I plead
before You.
Yet
I wish to contend
with You:
Why
does the way
of the wicked
prosper?
Why do all the faithless
live at ease?
You planted them,
and
they have taken root.
They have grown
and
produced
fruit.
You
are ever on their lips,
but far
from their conscience.
But You
know me,
O LORD;
You see me
and test
my heart
toward You.
Drag away the wicked
like sheep
to the slaughter
and set them apart
for the day
of carnage.
How long
will the land
mourn
and the grass
of every
field
be withered?
Because of the evil
of its residents,
the animals
and birds
have been swept away,
for
the people have said,
“He cannot
see
what our end will be.”
“If
you have raced
with
men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how
can you compete
with
horses?
If you
stumble
in a peaceful
land,
how
will you do
in the thickets
of the Jordan?
Even
your brothers—
your own father’s
household—
even
they
have betrayed you;
even
they
have cried
aloud
against you.
Do not
trust them,
though
they speak
well
of you.
I have forsaken
My house;
I have abandoned
My inheritance.
I have given
the love
of My life
into the hands
of her enemies.
My inheritance
has become
to Me
like a lion
in the forest.
She has roared
against Me;
therefore
I hate her.
Is not My inheritance
to Me
like a speckled
bird of prey,
with other birds of prey
circling
against her?
Go,
gather
all
the beasts
of the field;
bring
them to devour her.
Many
shepherds
have destroyed
My vineyard;
they have trampled
My plot of land.
They have turned
My pleasant
field
into a desolate
wasteland.
They have made
it a desolation.
Desolate
before Me,
it mourns;
all
the land
is laid waste,
but
no
man
takes
it to
heart.
Over
all
the barren heights
in the wilderness
the destroyers
have come,
for
the sword
of the LORD
devours
from one end
of the earth
to
the other.
No
flesh
shall have peace.
They have sown
wheat
but harvested
thorns.
They have exhausted themselves
to no
avail.
Bear the shame
of your harvest
because of the fierce
anger
of the LORD.”
This is what
the LORD
says:
“As for
all
My evil
neighbors
who attack
the inheritance
that
I bequeathed
to My people
Israel,
I am about to uproot them
from
their land,
and
I will uproot
the house
of Judah
from among them.
But
after
I have uprooted them,
I will once again
have compassion on them
and return
each one
to his inheritance
and to his land.
And
if
they will diligently learn
the ways
of My people—
to swear
by My name,
‘As surely as the LORD
lives,’
just as
they taught
My people
to swear
by Baal—
then they will be established
among
My people.
But if
they will not
obey,
then I will uproot
that
nation;
I will uproot it
and destroy it,”
declares
the LORD.