| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1You are righteous, LORD, even when I bring a complaint to you. But I want to discuss justice with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, while all who are treacherous are at ease? | 1LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy? |
| 2You plant them and they take root, they grow and bear fruit. "You are near to us," they say with their mouths, but the truth is that you're far from their hearts. | 2You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts. |
| 3You know me, LORD. You see me and test my thoughts toward you. Pull the wicked out like sheep for slaughter; set them apart for the day of butchering. | 3But as for me, LORD, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered! |
| 4How long will the land mourn and the vegetation of every field dry up? Because of the wickedness of those who live in it, animals and birds are swept away. For they say, "He does not see our future." | 4How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, “The LORD doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!” The LORD’s Reply to Jeremiah |
| 5Indeed, if you run with others on foot, and they tire you out, how can you compete with horses? You are secure in a land at peace, but how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? | 5“If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan? |
| 6Indeed, even your brothers and your father's family conspire against you. Even they cry out after you loudly. Don't believe them, even though they speak friendly words to you. | 6Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak. |
| 7I'll forsake my house, I'll abandon my inheritance. I'll give the beloved of my heart into the hand of her enemies. | 7“I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies. |
| 8My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest to me. She roars at me; therefore, I hate her. | 8My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt. |
| 9Is my inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to me? Are the other birds of prey all around her coming against her? Go, gather all the wild animals and bring them to devour it. | 9My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean! |
| 10Many shepherds will destroy my vineyard. They'll trample down my portion. They'll turn my pleasant portion into a desolate desert. | 10“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness. |
| 11They'll make it into a desolate place, and, desolate, it will cry out in mourning to me. The whole land will be desolate because no one takes it to heart. | 11They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares. |
| 12On all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will come. Indeed, a sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other. There will be no peace for any person. | 12On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the LORD devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape! |
| 13They have sown wheat, but they have harvested thorns. They have tired themselves out, but they don't show a profit. Now be disappointed about your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD. | 13My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the LORD.” A Message for Israel’s Neighbors |
| 14This is what the LORD says about all the wicked neighbors who strike out against the land I've given to my people Israel as their inheritance: "I'm about to uproot them from their land, and I'll uproot the house of Judah from among them. | 14Now this is what the LORD says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them. |
| 15After I've uprooted them, I'll again have compassion on them. I'll return each one of them to his inheritance, and each one to his own land. | 15But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession. |
| 16If they have learned the ways of my people well, to swear by my name: 'As surely as the LORD lives,' just as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they'll be built up among my people. | 16And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people. |
| 17But if they don't listen, then I'll completely uproot that nation and destroy it," declares the LORD. | 17But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!” |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
