1You will be righteous, LORD, even if I bring a case against you. Yet, I wish to contend with you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
3As for you, LORD, you know me; you see me. You test whether my heart is with you. Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter and set them apart for the day of killing.
4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, "He cannot see what our end will be."
5If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6Even your brothers--your own father's family--even they were treacherous to you; even they have cried out loudly after you. Do not have confidence in them, though they speak well of you.
12Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the LORD has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.
13They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. Be put to shame by your harvests because of the LORD's burning anger.
14This is what the LORD says: "Concerning all my evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to my people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them.
16If they will diligently learn the ways of my people--to swear by my name, 'As the LORD lives,' just as they taught my people to swear by Baal--they will be built up among my people.
