Jeremias 12:9-17

9 Is not my inheritance to me a hyaena's cave, or a cave round about her? Go ye, gather together all the wild beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my desirable portion a trackless wilderness;

11 it is made a complete ruin: for my sake the whole land has been utterly ruined, because there is none that lays to heart.

12 The ravagers are come to every passage in the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord will devour from one end of the land to the other: no flesh has any peace.

13 Sow wheat, and reap thorns; their portions shall not profit them: be ashamed of your boasting, because of reproach before the Lord.

14 For thus saith the Lord, concerning all the evil neighbours that touch mine inheritance, which I have divided to my people Israel; Behold, I draw them away from their land, and I will cast out Juda from the midst of them.

15 And it shall come to pass, after I have cast them out, I will return, and have mercy upon them, and will cause them to dwell every one in his inheritance, and every one in his land.

16 And it shall be, if they will indeed learn the way of my people, to swear by my name, , The Lord lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall be built in the midst of my people.

17 But if they will not return, then will I cut off that nation with utter ruin and destruction.

Jeremias 12:9-17 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.