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Yet let me bring charges against You:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they have grown, and brought forth fruit.
You are ever on their lips,
but their hearts are far from You.
3 But You, O Lord, know me;
You see me,
and You test my heart toward You.
Drag the wicked away like sheep to be butchered,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
Because of the wickedness of its inhabitants
the animals and birds have been swept away.
What is more, these people even say,
“He cannot see what our future will be.”
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 safe land,
how will you cope in the thickets of the Jordan?
6 Even your brothers, from your own father’s household,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not believe them,
though they speak smooth words to you.
7 “I have abandoned My House;
I have forsaken My heritage.
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul
into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to Me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at Me;
therefore I hate her.
9 My inheritance is like a hyena to Me;
the birds of prey circle to attack.
Come, assemble all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour her!
10 “Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard,
they have trampled down My field;
they have turned My pleasant portion
into a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a desolation;
it mourns, desolate, to Me;
the whole land is made desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.
12 Over all the desolate heights in the wilderness
destroyers will come;
for the Lord has the sword that will devour
from one end of the land to the other end of the land;
there will be peace for no one.
13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns;
they have exhausted themselves for no profit.
Be ashamed of your harvest
by the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14 This is what the Lord says: “As for all My evil neighbours who attack the inheritance that I gave to My people Israel: I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uprootthe house of Judah from among them. 15 But after I have uprooted them, later I will once again have compassion on them, and I will return each of them to his own inheritance and to his own land. 16 And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—even though they taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be built up among My people. 17 However, if they do not obey, then I will thoroughly uproot them and destroy that nation,” declares the Lord.