| New International Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? | 1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? |
| 2You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. | 2You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts. |
| 3Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! | 3But 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. |
| 4How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, "He will not see what happens to us." | 4How 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.” |
| 5"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? | 5“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? |
| 6Your relatives, members of your own family-- even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. | 6Even 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. |
| 7"I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies. | 7I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies. |
| 8My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She roars at me; therefore I hate her. | 8My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her. |
| 9Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour. | 9Is 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. |
| 10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. | 10Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. |
| 11It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. | 11They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart. |
| 12Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe. | 12Over 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 has peace. |
| 13They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the LORD's fierce anger." | 13They 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.” |
| 14This is what the LORD says: "As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. | 14This 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. |
| 15But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. | 15But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. |
| 16And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives'--even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal--then they will be established among my people. | 16And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people. |
| 17But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it," declares the LORD. | 17But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.” |
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