JEREMIAH QUESTIONS THE LORD

LORD, if I argued my case with You,

You would prove to be right.

Yet I must question You about matters of justice.

Why are wicked men so prosperous?

You plant them, and they take root;

they grow and bear fruit.

They always speak well of You,

yet they do not really care about You.

But, Lord, You know me; 

you see what I do,

and how I love you.

Drag these evil men away like sheep

 to be butchered;  

guard them until it is time for them

to be slaughtered.

How long will our land be dry,

and the grass in every field be withered?

Animals and birds are dying

because of the wickedness of our people,

people who say, ‘God doesn’t see

what we are doing.’ ”

The Lord said,

“Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against men,

how can you race against horses?

If you can’t even stand up in open country,

how  will you manage in the jungle of Jordan?

Even your brothers, members of your

own family, have betrayed you;

they join in the attacks against you,

Do not trust them, even though they

speak friendly words.”

The Lord’s sorrow because of His people

The LORD says,

“I have abandoned Israel; 

I have rejected My chosen nation.

I have given the people I love

into the power of their enemies.

My chosen people have turned against Me;

like a lion in the forest they have roared at Me,

and so I hate them.

My chosen people are like a bird

attacked from all sides by hawks.

Call the wild animals

to come and join in the feast!

Many foreign rulers have destroyed My vineyard;  

they have trampled down My fields;  

they have turned My lovely land into a desert.

They have made it a wilderness;  

it lies desolate before Me.

The whole land has become a desert,

and no one cares.

Across all desert highlands

men have come to plunder.

I have sent war to destroy

the entire land;

no one can live in peace.

My people sowed wheat, but gathered weeds;

they have worked hard, but got

nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger

their crops have failed.”

Jeremiah 12:1-13