Jeremiah 12:3-13

3 But, ADONAI, you know me and see me; you test my devotion to you; drag them away like sheep to be slaughtered, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

4 How long must the land mourn and the grass in all the fields wither? The wild animals and birds are consumed because of the wickedness of those who live there; for they say, "He will not see how we end up."

5 If racing men on foot exhausts you, how will you compete against horses? You may feel secure in a land at peace, but how will you do in the Yarden's thick brush?

6 For even your own brothers and your father's family are betraying you; they are in full cry after you. Despite all their nice speech, don't believe them.

7 "I have abandoned my house, I have rejected my heritage, I have given my heart's beloved over to the hands of her foes.

8 For me, my heritage has become like a lion in the forest - she roared out against me; so now I hate her.

9 For me, my heritage is like a speckled bird of prey - other birds of prey surround her and attack her. Go, gather all the wild animals, and bring them to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled my plot of land, they have turned my desirable property into a desert waste.

11 Yes, they have made it a waste; wasted, it mourns to me; the whole land is wasted, because nobody really cares."

12 On all the desert's bare hills plunderers have come; yes, the sword of ADONAI devours the land from one end to the other; nothing alive is safe.

13 They sowed wheat and reaped thorns, they wore themselves out and gained nothing. So be ashamed of your [tiny] harvest, the result of ADONAI's fierce anger.

Jeremiah 12:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

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 Jer 12:1,2 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, Jer 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, Jer 12:3,4, 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 Jer 12:5,6 the account of the miserable condition of the Jewish nation is from Jer 12:7-14, 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, Jer 12:7-9 and of a vineyard destroyed and trodden down by shepherds, and made desolate, Jer 12:10,11 even as a wilderness through the ravage of the sword; so that what is sown upon it comes to nothing, Jer 12:12,13 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, Jer 12:14-16, but in case of disobedience are threatened to be plucked up and utterly destroyed, Jer 12:17.