What does Jeremias Chapter 12 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Prosperous wickedness prompts questions to the just Lord. Footmen, horses and relatives’ deceit precede forsaken inheritance. Neighbor uprooting and return retain the conditional oath-learning promise.

Chapter breakdown

Jeremias 12 acknowledges divine justice while asking why wicked transgressors prosper. Planted, rooted fruitfulness contrasts with God near mouths and far reins. His known, proved heart accompanies a request to gather them like sacrificial sheep. Mourning land, withered herbs and consumed beasts and birds accompany the claim that he will not see their end.

Questions compare weariness with footmen to contending with horses, and peaceful security to Jordan's swelling. Brethren and father's house fight and cry against him; their good words should not be believed. Charging cavalry, jungle navigation and precise murderous motives are not added. Divine speech forsakes house and inheritance and gives dear soul to enemies. Inheritance is like a hostile woodland lion and questions concern a speckled or dyed bird; beasts are summoned to devour.

Pastors destroy vineyard and portion, desolating land where none considers in heart. Wilderness spoilers and the Lord's sword remove peace. Wheat reaps thorns and unprofitable inheritance brings ashamed fruit. Wicked neighbors touching Israel's apportioned inheritance are plucked from land, and Juda from their midst. Mercy and return follow, each to inheritance and land. If taught to swear by the Lord as they taught Baal, they are built among his people; refusal brings utter uprooting and destruction. Claimed necessary divine heartbreak, a successful stamina mechanism and an explicit forever duration are not supplied.

The story inside

Opening: Prosperous wickedness prompts questions to the just Lord. Development: Footmen, horses and relatives’ deceit precede forsaken inheritance. Conclusion: Neighbor uprooting and return retain the conditional oath-learning promise.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Prosperous wickedness prompts questions to the just Lord.
2
Footmen, horses and relatives’ deceit precede forsaken inheritance.
3
Neighbor uprooting and return retain the conditional oath-learning promise.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 85239–85249
12:1. Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly? 12:2. Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. 12:3. And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my heart with thee: gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
Lines 85255–85261
12:5. If thou hast been wearied with running with footmen, how canst thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan? 12:6. For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice: believe them not when they speak good things to thee.
Lines 85263–85275
12:7. I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have given my dear soul into the hand of her enemies. 12:8. My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: it hath cried out against me, therefore have I hated it. 12:9. Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? is it as a bird dyed throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all ye beasts of the earth, make haste to devour. 12:10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a desolate wilderness.
Lines 85277–85287
12:11. They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart. 12:12. The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh. 12:13. They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.
Lines 85289–85304
12:14. Thus saith the Lord against all my wicked neighbours, that touch the inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I will pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda out of the midst of them. 12:15. And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have mercy on them: and will bring them back, every man to his inheritance, and every man into his land. 12:16. And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 12:17. But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.