Jeremiah12
New Living Translation
1Lord, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?
2You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.
3But as for me, Lord, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!
4How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, “The Lord doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”
5“If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
6Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.
7“I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
8My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.
9My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
10“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
11They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
12On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the Lord devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!
13My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14Now this is what the Lord says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.
15But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.
16And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.
17But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jeremiah 12.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Jeremiah complains of the prosperity of the wicked. (1-6). The heavy judgments to come upon the nation. (7-13). Divine mercy to them, and even to the nations around. (14-17).
vv1-6
When we are most in the dark concerning God's dispensations, we must keep up right thoughts of God, believing that he never did the least wrong to any of his creatures. When we find it hard to understand any of his dealings with us, or others, we must look to general truths as our first principles, and abide by them: the Lord is righteous. The God with whom we have to do, knows how our hearts are toward him. He knows both the guile of the hypocrite and the sincerity of the upright. Divine judgments would pull the wicked out of their pasture as sheep for the slaughter. This fruitful land was turned into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwelt therein. The Lord reproved the prophet. The opposition of the men of Anathoth was not so formidable as what he must expect from the rulers of Judah. Our grief that there should be so much evil is often mixed with peevishness on account of the trials it occasions us. And in this our favoured day, and under our trifling difficulties, let us consider how we should behave, if called to sufferings like those of saints in former ages.
vv7-13
God's people had been the dearly-beloved of his soul, precious in his sight, but they acted so, that he gave them up to their enemies. Many professing churches become like speckled birds, presenting a mixture of religion and the world, with its vain fashions, pursuits, and pollutions. God's people are as men wondered at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their own folly made themselves so; and the beasts and birds are called to prey upon them. The whole land would be made desolate. But until the judgments were actually inflicted, none of the people would lay the warning to heart. When God's hand is lifted up, and men will not see, they shall be made to feel. Silver and gold shall not profit in the day of the Lord's anger. And the efforts of sinners to escape misery, without repentance and works answerable thereto, will end in confusion.
vv14-17
The Lord would plead the cause of his people against their evil neighbours. Yet he would afterwards show mercy to those nations, when they should learn true religion. This seems to look forward to the times when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. Those who would have their lot with God's people, and a last end like theirs, must learn their ways, and walk in them.
Key Words
צַדִּיק: just
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
אַךְ: a particle of affirmation, surely; hence (by limitation) only
מַעַן: properly, heed, i.e. purpose; used only adverbially, on account of (as a motive or an aim), teleologically, in order that
דֶּרֶךְ: a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb
רָשָׁע: morally wrong; concretely, an (actively) bad person
צָלַח: to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
בָּגַד: to cover (with a garment); figuratively, to act covertly; by implication, to pillage
Cross References
Jeremiah 12Classic parallel on the agonizing problem of the prosperity of the wicked versus suffering of the righteous.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Declaring God's absolute righteousness and justice before bringing one's case or plea before Him.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Direct parallel to hypocrites who draw near with their mouth but are far from Him in heart.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Explains the geographical metaphor of the dangerous, seasonal overflowing 'swelling of Jordan'.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Warning not to believe treacherous family members or neighbors even when they speak fair words.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God's intimate search, testing, and absolute knowledge of the prophet's heart.
Supported by JFB
Repeats Jeremiah's plea to see God's vengeance on his enemies who try his heart.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Verbal and thematic parallel of a fruitful land turned to barrenness for its inhabitants' wickedness.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Typological parallel of being rejected and dealt with treacherously by one's own brethren.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates Israel as the 'beloved of my soul' who has committed lewdness.
Supported by JFB
Sparsely cited invitation calling the beasts of the field to assemble and devour.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Habakkuk's similar perplexity at why God permits treacherous men to swallow up the righteous.
Supported by John Calvin
New Testament echo of the wicked being nourished and prepared for a day of slaughter.
Supported by JFB
Jeremiah's earlier warning to take heed of every brother and neighbor's treachery.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the destructive 'pastors' metaphorically as invading military leaders pitching tents.
Supported by JFB
Mosaic promise of God returning, having compassion, and gathering His exiled inheritance.
Supported by Matthew Poole