Jeremiah’s Prayer

1Righteous are You, O LORD, that I would plead my case with You;
         Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:
         Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
         Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?

2You have planted them, they have also taken root;
         They grow, they have even produced fruit.
         You are near to their lips
         But far from their mind.

3But You know me, O LORD;
         You see me;
         And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.
         Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter
         And set them apart for a day of carnage!

4How long is the land to mourn
         And the vegetation of the countryside to wither?
         For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
         Animals and birds have been snatched away,
         Because men have said, “He will not see our latter ending.”

5“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out,
         Then how can you compete with horses?
         If you fall down in a land of peace,
         How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

6“For even your brothers and the household of your father,
         Even they have dealt treacherously with you,
         Even they have cried aloud after you.
         Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”

God’s Answer

7“I have forsaken My house,
         I have abandoned My inheritance;
         I have given the beloved of My soul
         Into the hand of her enemies.

8“My inheritance has become to Me
         Like a lion in the forest;
         She has roared against Me;
         Therefore I have come to hate her.

9“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
         Are the birds of prey against her on every side?
         Go, gather all the beasts of the field,
         Bring them to devour!

10“Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,
         They have trampled down My field;
         They have made My pleasant field
         A desolate wilderness.

11“It has been made a desolation,
         Desolate, it mourns before Me;
         The whole land has been made desolate,
         Because no man lays it to heart.

12“On all the bare heights in the wilderness
         Destroyers have come,
         For a sword of the LORD is devouring
         From one end of the land even to the other;
         There is no peace for anyone.

13“They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
         They have strained themselves to no profit.
         But be ashamed of your harvest
         Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

      14Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15“And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 16“Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17“But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?

Darby Bible Translation
Righteous art thou, Jehovah, when I plead with thee; yet will I speak with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

English Revised Version
Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

Webster's Bible Translation
Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me speak with thee of thy judgments: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? why are they all happy that deal very treacherously?

World English Bible
You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?

Young's Literal Translation
Righteous art Thou, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers.Calms and Crises
'If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the pride of Jordan?'--JER. xii. 5, R.V. The prophet has been complaining of his persecutors. The divine answer is here, reproving his impatience, and giving him to understand that harder trials are in store for him. Both clauses mean substantially the same thing, and are of a parabolic nature. The one adduces the metaphor …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Are You Prepared to Die?
"There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain." There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers; Death, like a narrow sea, divides This heavenly land from ours." Taking "the swelling of Jordan" to represent the precise time of death, the question really is, what shall we do when we come to die? "How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" I. We notice, in the first place, that this is an EXCEEDINGLY PRACTICAL …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 11: 1865

Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Roman Pilgrimage: the Miracles which were Wrought in It.
[Sidenote: 1139] 33. (20). It seemed to him, however, that one could not go on doing these things with sufficient security without the authority of the Apostolic See; and for that reason he determined to set out for Rome, and most of all because the metropolitan see still lacked, and from the beginning had lacked, the use of the pall, which is the fullness of honour.[507] And it seemed good in his eyes[508] that the church for which he had laboured so much[509] should acquire, by his zeal and labour, …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Of the Trinity and a Christian, and of the Law and a Christian.
EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. These two short treatises were found among Mr. Bunyan's papers after his decease. They probably were intended for publication, like his 'Prison Meditations' and his 'Map of Salvation,' on a single page each, in the form of a broadside, or handbill. This was the popular mode in which tracts were distributed; and when posted against a wall, or framed and hung up in a room, they excited notice, and were extensively read. They might also have afforded some trifling profit to aid …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation. …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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