1 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously? 2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3 But you, Yahweh, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end. 5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan? 6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: don't believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you. 7 I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8 My heritage is become to me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. 9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour. 10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. 12 Destroyers are come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace. 13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh. 14 Thus says Yahweh against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh.
Some divide Jeremiah. 12 into three extracts Jeremiah 12:1-7, Jeremiah 12:14-17 from discourses of Jeremiah not preserved at length; others regard it as a connected discourse occasioned by a drought in the days of Josiah (compare Jeremiah 12:4); others see in the "evil neighbors" Jeremiah 12:14, an allusion to the bands of Syrians etc., who infested the land after Jehoiakim's revolt from Nebuchadnezzar. More probably the outburst of expostulation Jeremiah 12:1-4 was occasioned by the plot of the men of Anathoth, and upon it the rest follows naturally.
This chapter is connected with the foregoing. The prophet expostulates with God concerning the ways of Providence in permitting the wicked to prosper, Jeremiah 12:1-4. It is intimated to him that he must endure still greater trials, Jeremiah 12:5, from his false and deceitful brethren, Jeremiah 12:6; but that still heavier judgments awaited the nation for their crimes, Jeremiah 12:7-13. That God, however, would at length have compassion on them; restore them to their land; and turn his judgments against those that oppressed them, if not prevented by their becoming converts to the true religion, Jeremiah 12:14-17.
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 12
This chapter contains the prophets complaint of the prosperity of the wicked, and the Lord's answer to it; an account of the deplorable and miserable estate of the Jewish nation; and a threatening to the neighbouring nations that had used them ill; with a promise of deliverance of the Jews from them, and settlement among God's people in case of obedience. The prophet's complaint is in Jeremiah 12:1 in which he asserts the justice of God, yet seems at a loss to reconcile it with the prosperity of the wicked; and the rather, because of their hypocrisy; and appeals to the Lord for his own sincerity and uprightness, Jeremiah 12:3 and prays for the destruction of the wicked, and that the time might hasten, for whose wickedness the land was desolate, and herbs, beasts, and birds, consumed, Jeremiah 12:3, the Lord's answer, in which he reproves him for his pusillanimity, seeing he had greater trials than those to encounter with, and instructs him how to behave towards his treacherous friends, is in Jeremiah 12:5 the account of the miserable condition of the Jewish nation is from Jeremiah 12:7, under the simile of a house and heritage left by the Lord, given up to enemies, and compared to a lion and a speckled bird, hateful to God, and hated by those about it, Jeremiah 12:7 and of a vineyard destroyed and trodden down by shepherds, and made desolate, Jeremiah 12:10 even as a wilderness through the ravage of the sword; so that what is sown upon it comes to nothing, Jeremiah 12:12 then follows a threatening to those who had carried the people of Israel captive, with a promise to deliver the Jews out of their hands, and bring them into their own land, and settle them among the Lord's people, in case they use diligence to learn their ways, Jeremiah 12:14, but in case of disobedience are threatened to be plucked up and utterly destroyed, Jeremiah 12:17.
(Jeremiah 12:1-6) Jeremiah complains of the prosperity of the wicked.
(Jeremiah 12:7-13) The heavy judgments to come upon the nation.
(Jeremiah 12:14-17) Divine mercy to them, and even to the nations around.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.