1 Whenever I complainto you, Lord,you are always fair.But now I have questionsabout your justice.Why is life easy for sinners?Why are they successful?
2 You plant them like trees;you let them prosperand produce fruit.Yet even when they praise you,they don't mean it.
3 But you know, Lord,how faithful I've always been,even in my thoughts.So drag my enemies awayand butcher them like sheep!
4 How long will the ground be dryand the pasturelands parched?The birds and animalsare dead and gone.And all of this happened becausethe people are so sinful.They even brag, “God can't seethe sins we commit.”
5 Jeremiah, if you get tiredin a race against people,how can you possibly runagainst horses?If you fall in open fields,what will happen in the forestalong the Jordan River?
6 Even your own familyhas turned against you.They act friendly,but don't trust them.They're out to get you,and so is everyone else.
7 I loved my people and chose themas my very own.But now I will reject themand hand them overto their enemies.
8 My people have turned against meand roar at me like lions.That's why I hate them.
9 My people are like a hawksurrounded and attackedby other hawks.Tell the wild animalsto come and eat their fill.
10 My beautiful land is ruinedlike a field or a vineyardtrampled by shepherdsand stripped bareby their flocks.
11 Every field I see lies barren,and no one cares.
12 A destroying armymarches along desert roadsand attacks everywhere.They are my deadly sword;no one is safe from them.
13 My people, you planted wheat,but because I was furious,I let only weeds grow.You wore yourselves outand gained only shame!
14 The Lord said:I gave this land to my people Israel, but enemies around it have attacked and robbed it. So I will uproot them from their own countries just as I will uproot Judah from its land.
15 But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands.
16 They once taught my people to worship Baal. But if they admit I am the only true God, and if they let my people teach them how to worship me, these nations will also become my people.
17 However, if they don't listen to me, I will uproot them from their lands and completely destroy them. I, the Lord, have spoken.