The Prosperity of the Wicked

1Righteous are You, O YHWH,

when I plead before You;

yet I will speak

with You of judgments.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do they find repose, all who deal so treacherously treacherously?

2You plant them, and they have taken root;

they grow and they bear fruit;

You are near,

in their mouth and far from their kidneys.

3And You, O YHWH, know me;

You have seen me and have tested my heart toward You.

May you pull them out like sheep for the slaughter

and prepare them for the day of slaughter!

4How long will the land mourn

and the grass of every field wither?

For the evil of those dwelling in it,

the beasts and fowl have been swept away—

because they said,

“He will not see our final end!

God’s Answer to Jeremiah

5“If you have run with those on foot

and they have wearied you,

then how can you contend with horses?

And in a land of peace you are trusting—

then how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

6For even your brothers

and the house of your father,

even they have dealt treacherously with you,

even they have called a multitude after you.

Do not have faith in them,

even though they may speak good things to you!

7I have forsaken My house,

I have left My heritage;

I have given the beloved of My soul

into the hand of her enemies.

8My heritage has become for Me

like a lion in the forest;

she has set against Me with her voice;

upon thus I have hated her!

9Is not My inheritance to Me

a speckled bird of prey

with the bird of prey† all around against her?

Go gather all the beasts of the field,

bring them for food!

10Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,

they have trampled down My portion,

they have made My pleasant portion

a desolate wilderness.

11They have made her a desolation;

she mourns before Me, desolate;

all the land has been made desolate!

But no man is setting it upon the heart.

12Upon all the barren heights in the desert

the destroyers have come;

for the sword of YHWH is devouring

from one end of the land even to the other end of the land!

No peace is unto any flesh.

13They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;

they have wearied themselves; they did not profit.

And they have been ashamed of your⁺ produce,

because of the burning nose of YHWH.”

A Message for Israel’s Neighbors
(Amos 1:1–15)

14Thus says YHWH “Against all my evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I am plucking them from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from their midst! 15And it will come to pass after I uproot them, that I will return and have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, everyone to his inheritance and everyone to his land.

16And it will come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘YHWH lives,’ as—they taught My people to swear by Baal—that they will learn they will be built in the midst of My people. 17And if they will not listen, then I will completely pluck up and destroy that nation! A declaration of YHWH.”