Jeremiah 12 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Lord, if I argue with you,\par you are always right!\par But I want to ask you about some things that don’t seem right.\par Why are wicked people successful?\par Why do people you can’t trust have such easy lives?\par

² You have put those wicked people here.\par They are like plants with strong roots,\par they grow and produce fruit.\par With their mouths, they say that you are near and dear to them.\par But in their hearts, they are really far away from you.\par

³ But you know my heart, Lord.\par You see me and test my mind.\par Drag those evil people away\par like sheep to be butchered.\par Choose them for the day of slaughter.\par

⁴ How much longer will the land be dry?\par How long will the grass be dry and dead?\par The animals and birds in the land have died,\par And it is the fault of the wicked people.\par Yet those wicked people are saying,\par “Jeremiah will not live long enough\par to see what happens to us.”\par

⁵ “Jeremiah, if you get tired running\par in a footrace with men,\par how will you race against horses?\par If you get tired in a safe place,\par what will you do in a dangerous place?\par What will you do in the thorn bushes\par that grow along the Jordan River?\par

⁶ These men are your own brothers.\par Members of your own family\par are making plans against you.\par People from your own family\par are yelling at you.\par Don’t trust them,\par even when they speak to you like friends.”\par

⁷ “I (the Lord) have abandoned my house.\par I have left my own property. {\cf2\super [101]} \par I have given the one I love (Judah)\par to her enemies.\par

⁸ My own people turned against me\par like a wild lion.\par They roared at me,\par so I turned away from them.\par

⁹ My own people have become like\par a dying animal surrounded by vultures.\par Those birds fly around her.\par Come on, wild animals.\par Come get something to eat.\par

¹⁰ Many shepherds (leaders) have ruined\par my field of grapes.\par Those shepherds have walked\par on the plants in my field.\par Those shepherds have made my beautiful field\par into an empty desert.\par

¹¹ They changed my field to a desert.\par It is dry and dead.\par No people live there.\par The whole country is an empty desert.\par There is no person left to care for that field.\par

¹² Soldiers came to take things\par from every place in that empty land.\par The Lord used those armies\par to punish that land.\par People from one end of the land\par to the other were punished.\par No person was safe.\par

¹³ The people will plant wheat,\par but they will harvest only thorns.\par They will work hard until they are very tired,\par but they will get nothing for all their work.\par They will be ashamed of their crop.\par The Lord’s anger caused those things.”\par

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says: “I will tell you what I will do for all the people that live around the land of Israel. Those people are very wicked. They have destroyed the land I gave to the people of Israel. I will pull those evil people up and throw them out of their land. And I will pull the people of Judah up with them.

¹⁵ But after I pull those people out of their land, I will feel sorry for them. I will bring each family back to its own property and to its own land.

¹⁶ I want those people to learn their lessons well. In the past, those people taught my people to use Baal’s {\cf2\super [102]} name to make promises. Now, I want those people to learn their lessons just as well. I want those people to learn to use my name. I want those people to say, ‘As the Lord lives …’ If those people do that, then I will allow them to be successful and I will let them live among my people.

¹⁷ But if any nation does not listen to my message, then I will completely destroy it. I will pull it up like a dead plant.” This message is from the Lord.