Jeremiah 12:7-17 ▼

7 I have abandoned my house; I have deserted my inheritance. I have handed the love of my life over to her enemies.

8 My inheritance has behaved toward me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against me. Therefore, I hate her.

9 Is my inheritance like a hyena to me? Are birds of prey circling her? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled my plot of land. They have turned my desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.

11 They have made it a desolation. It mourns, desolate, before me. All the land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.

12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the LORD has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.

13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. Be put to shame by your harvests because of the LORD’s burning anger.

14 This is what the LORD says: “Concerning 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 them.

15 After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

16 If they will diligently learn the ways of my people —to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among my people.

17 However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.” This is the LORD’s declaration.