Jeremiah · 17 verses
Jeremiah 12
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The LORD's own inheritance becomes a speckled bird of prey, surrounded by other birds of prey; then the beasts of the field are summoned to devour it. The chapter has a flair for answering a complaint about wicked prosperity with horses, Jordan thickets, and eventually a rather severe gardening metaphor.
The complaint, and the horsesvv. 1–6
The petitioner begins with excellent procedural form: the LORD is righteous, but His judgments are nevertheless open to contention. Why do the wicked prosper, while the faithless live at ease? They have been planted, rooted, and made fruitful, though their lips are nearer to the LORD than their hearts. The petitioner asks for judgment on them, while the land itself mourns and its animals and birds disappear. The answer does not explain the prosperity. It raises the race: footmen first, then horses, then the thickets of the Jordan. Even the household has turned against him, and polite speech is declared an unsafe shelter.
The inheritance as preyvv. 7–13
The LORD now speaks of abandoning His house and giving the beloved of His soul to her enemies. The inheritance has roared like a lion, and then—without any concern for zoological neatness—becomes a speckled bird of prey with other birds circling it. The remedy is not rescue but a summons to every beast of the field. Shepherds have ruined the vineyard, the pleasant field is desolate, the land mourns, and the sword ranges from one end of the earth to the other. Wheat has been sown; thorns have come up. Gardening, here, has plainly joined the conspiracy.
Uprooting, and the surprising admissionvv. 14–17
The LORD turns to the evil neighbors attacking the inheritance given to His people Israel, and announces that both they and the house of Judah will be uprooted. Yet uprooting is not the final movement: compassion follows, with each one returned to inheritance and land. The nations may even learn the ways of the LORD's people and swear by His name, despite having once taught those people to swear by Baal; then they will be established among them. Refusal brings another uprooting, this time ending in destruction. The door is open, but it is hung on a rather formidable hinge.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Jer 12:1Righteous 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?
Jer 12:2You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
Jer 12:3But 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.
Jer 12:4How 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.”
Jer 12:5“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?
Jer 12:6Even 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.
Jer 12:7I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the beloved of My soul into the hands of her enemies.
Jer 12:8My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her.
Jer 12:9Is 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.
Jer 12:10Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
Jer 12:11They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
Jer 12:12Over 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.
Jer 12:13They 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.”
Jer 12:14This 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.
Jer 12:15But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
Jer 12:16And 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.
Jer 12:17But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 260 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 51 Peter 4:12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.
- 5Proverbs 24:10If you faint in the day of distress, how small is your strength!
- 1Malachi 3:15So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
- 5Hebrews 12:3–4Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
- 1Psalms 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- 2Isaiah 29:13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- 6Proverbs 26:25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.
- 1Psalms 37:1Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
- 2Titus 1:16They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
- 16Jeremiah 4:2and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”
- 6Jeremiah 9:4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
- 15Jeremiah 49:6Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,” declares the LORD.
- 5Jeremiah 50:44Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- 5Psalms 42:7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- 5Jeremiah 49:19Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- 5Psalms 69:1–2For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.
Onward