1 Whenever I complain

to you, Lord,

you are always fair.

But now I have questions

about your justice.

Why is life easy for sinners?

Why are they successful?

2 You plant them like trees;

you let them prosper

and 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 away

and butcher them like sheep!

4 How long will the ground be dry

and the pasturelands parched?

The birds and animals

are dead and gone.

And all of this happened because

the people are so sinful.

They even brag, "God can't see

the sins we commit."*

5 Jeremiah, if you get tired

in a race against people,

how can you possibly run

against horses?

If you fall in open fields,

what will happen in the forest

along the Jordan River?

6 Even your own family

has 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 them

as my very own.

But now I will reject them

and hand them over

to their enemies.

8 My people have turned against me

and roar at me like lions.

That's why I hate them.

9 My people are like a hawk

surrounded and attacked

by other hawks.*

Tell the wild animals

to come and eat their fill.

10 My beautiful land is ruined

like a field or a vineyard

trampled by shepherds

and stripped bare

by their flocks.

11 Every field I see lies barren,

and no one cares.

12 A destroying army

marches along desert roads

and 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 out

and 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.