The prosperity of the wicked shall be but for a short time. The
desolation of the Jews for their sins. Their return from their
captivity.
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.
12:4. How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds
are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end.
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.
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.
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.
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.