Jeremiah 12 p Righteous as thou art, O Lord, can I defend a cause against thee? but let me speak to thee in respect to judgments. Why is the way of wicked men prosperous? Why are they happy who have been all guilty of perfidy?

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ [p] Righteous as thou art, O Lord, can I defend a cause against thee? but let me speak to thee in respect to judgments. Why is the way of wicked men prosperous? Why are they happy who have been all guilty of perfidy? ² Thou hast planted them and they have taken root, they have generated and produced fruit. Thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins. ³ But thou, Lord, knowest me. Thou hast tried my heart before thee. Prepare them for the day of their slaughter. ⁴ How long shall the land mourn, and all the grass of the field be withered, for the wickedness of them who dwell therein? The cattle and fowls are vanished; because they said, God will not regard our ways. ⁵ [J] Thy feet run and fail thee: what preparation canst thou make, for horses? In thy land of peace hast thou been se [j cure? how wilt thou act at the swelling of Jordan? ⁶ since even thy brethren and the house of thy father have dealt perfidiously with thee; when they have raised the cry of war; have assembled in pursuit of thee, wilt thou trust them, because they speak thee fair? ⁷ I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage, I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. ⁸ My heritage became to me like a lion in a forest; against me it roared; therefore I hated it. ⁹ Is not this heritage of mine the den of a hyena? to me indeed it is the den around her. Go, collect all the beasts of the field and let them come and devour it. ¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my beloved portion a trackless desert: ¹¹ it is given up to total destruction. On my account the whole land is utterly desolated: because there is not a man who layeth this to heart, ¹² against every outlet by the wilderness destroyers are come: because the sword of the Lord devoureth from one end of the land to the other; there is no peace for any flesh. ¹³ Sow wheat and reap brambles. Their portions shall not profit them. Be ashamed of your boasting, of reproaches against the Lord. ¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord, respecting all those malignant neighbours, who touch my inheritance which I parcelled out to my people Israel; behold I am about to pluck them out of their land, and I will drive out Juda from among them, ¹⁵ but after I have driven them out, I will return and have compassion on them, and settle them every one in his inheritance even every one in his own land. ¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the way of my people to swear by my name, "As the Lord liveth" as they taught my people to swear by Baal; ¹⁷ they shall be established among my people: but if they will not return; I will assuredly root out that nation with ruin and destruction.