| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 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? | 1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? |
| 2You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts. | 2You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts. |
| 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! | 3But You know me, O LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter and set them apart for the day of carnage. |
| 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 | 4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.” |
| 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? | 5“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? |
| 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. | 6Even your brothers—your own father’s household—even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. |
| 7“I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies. | 7I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies. |
| 8My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt. | 8My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her. |
| 9My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean! | 9Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her. |
| 10“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness. | 10Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. |
| 11They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares. | 11They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart. |
| 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! | 12Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other. No flesh has peace. |
| 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 | 13They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.” |
| 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. | 14This is what the LORD says: “As for 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 among them. |
| 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. | 15But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. |
| 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. | 16And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people. |
| 17But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!” | 17But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.” |
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