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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Jeremiah 12 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" 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title="Jeremiah 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Jeremiah Complains to the <span class="nd">Lord</span></h3><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_1"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.1" class="v24_12_1">1</span>Whenever I complain</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_1">to you, <span class="nd">Lord</span>,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_1">you are always fair.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_1">But now I have questions</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_1">about your justice.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_1">Why is life easy for sinners?</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_1">Why are they successful?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_2"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.2" class="v24_12_2">2</span>You plant them like trees;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_2">you let them prosper</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_2">and produce fruit.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_2">Yet even when they praise you,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_2">they don't mean it.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_3"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.3" class="v24_12_3">3</span>But you know, <span class="nd">Lord</span>,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_3">how faithful I've always been,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_3">even in my thoughts.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_3">So drag my enemies away</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_3">and butcher them like sheep!</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_4"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.4" class="v24_12_4">4</span>How long will the ground be dry</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_4">and the pasturelands parched?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_4">The birds and animals</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_4">are dead and gone.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_4">And all of this happened because</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_4">the people are so sinful.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_4">They even brag, “God can't see</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_4">the sins we commit.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.12.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Answers Jeremiah</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_5"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.5" class="v24_12_5">5</span>Jeremiah, if you get tired</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_5">in a race against people,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_5">how can you possibly run</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_5">against horses?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_5">If you fall in open fields,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_5">what will happen in the forest</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_5">along the Jordan River?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_6"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.6" class="v24_12_6">6</span>Even your own family</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_6">has turned against you.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_6">They act friendly,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_6">but don't trust them.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_6">They're out to get you,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_6">and so is everyone else.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Is Furious with His People</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_7"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.7" class="v24_12_7">7</span>I loved my people and chose them</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_7">as my very own.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_7">But now I will reject them</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_7">and hand them over</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_7">to their enemies.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_8"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.8" class="v24_12_8">8</span>My people have turned against me</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_8">and roar at me like lions.</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_8">That's why I hate them.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_9"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.9" class="v24_12_9">9</span>My people are like a hawk</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_9">surrounded and attacked</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_9">by other hawks.<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.12.9!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_9">Tell the wild animals</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_9">to come and eat their fill.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_10"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.10" class="v24_12_10">10</span>My beautiful land is ruined</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_10">like a field or a vineyard</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_10">trampled by shepherds</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_10">and stripped bare</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_10">by their flocks.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_11"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.11" class="v24_12_11">11</span>Every field I see lies barren,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_11">and no one cares.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_12"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.12" class="v24_12_12">12</span>A destroying army</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_12">marches along desert roads</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_12">and attacks everywhere.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_12">They are my deadly sword;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_12">no one is safe from them.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_13"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.13" class="v24_12_13">13</span>My people, you planted wheat,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_13">but because I was furious,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_13">I let only weeds grow.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_12_13">You wore yourselves out</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_12_13">and gained only shame!</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Will Have Pity on Other Nations</h3><p class="par"><span class="v24_12_14"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.14" class="v24_12_14">14</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said:</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_12_14">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. </span><span class="v24_12_15"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.15" class="v24_12_15">15</span>But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands. </span><span class="v24_12_16"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.16" class="v24_12_16">16</span>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. </span><span class="v24_12_17"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.12.17" class="v24_12_17">17</span>However, if they don't listen to me, I will uproot them from their lands and completely destroy them. I, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, have spoken.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.4 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">God can't see the sins we commit: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One ancient translation; Hebrew “He won't live to see what happens to us.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.9 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">My people … other hawks: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “My land has become a hyena's den with vultures circling above.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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