1 ARST Yahweh, whenever I tell you that I am unhappy about what is happening to me, you always act justly. So now allow me to ask about one more thing that I do not understand: Why are wicked people often very prosperous? Why do things go very well for dishonest people? BSB BSB: Righteous 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?
2 ARST You allow them to prosper like trees that grow tall and bear a lot of fruit. They always say good things about you, but in their inner beings, they are really far from you. BSB BSB: You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
3 ARST But Yahweh, you know me very well. You see what I do and you are able to know what I am thinking. Set them apart like we separate the sheep out of the herd so that on the day of slaughter they will be butchered. BSB BSB: But 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.
4 ARST This land is becoming very dry and even the grass is withering. Even the wild animals and the birds have all died because the people who live in this land are very wicked. All this has happened because the people have said,“Yahweh does not know what has happened to us!” BSB BSB: How 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.”
5 ARST Then to show me that I needed to be prepared to endure even greater difficulties, Yahweh said to me,“It is as though you have become exhausted from racing against men; so how will you be able to race against horses? If you only prepare to run on open ground, what will happen to you when you are running through the thick foliage near the Jordan River? BSB BSB: “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?
6 ARST Already your brothers and other members of your own family oppose you. They plot against you and they say bad things about you. So even if they say nice things about you, do not trust them! BSB BSB: Even 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.
7 ARST I have abandoned my Israelite people, the people whom I chose to belong to me. I have allowed their enemies to conquer the people whom I love. BSB BSB: I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My inheritance. I have given the beloved of My soul into the hands of her enemies.
8 ARST My people have become to me like a lion in the forest. It is as though they roar at me like a lion, so now I hate them. BSB BSB: My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her.
9 ARST My chosen people have become like speckled birds that are surrounded by vultures waiting to eat their flesh. Tell all the wild animals to come and eat the flesh until they are full. BSB BSB: Is 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.
10 ARST Many rulers from other countries have come with their armies and devastated my people whom I care for like a farmer takes care of his vineyard. They have caused my beautiful land to become a barren desert where no one lives. BSB BSB: Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
11 ARST They have caused it to become completely empty; So now it is as though I am mourning the death of a loved one. The whole land is desolate, and no one worries about it. BSB BSB: They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
12 ARST The soldiers of our enemies have marched across all the barren hilltops. But I, Yahweh, am using those armies to punish your land from one end to the other, and no one will escape. BSB BSB: Over 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.
13 ARST It is as though my people planted wheat, but now they are harvesting thorns. They have become very tired because of much hard work, but they have gained nothing from all that work. They will be very disappointed because their harvests will be very small, and that will happen because I, Yahweh, am extremely angry with them.” BSB BSB: They 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.”
14 ARST This is also what Yahweh said to me:“I will punish the evil nearby nations that have been trying to take away the land that I gave to my Israelite people. I will force them to leave their own lands. But I will throw the people of Judah out of their lands, also. BSB BSB: This 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.
15 ARST But later I will act mercifully toward those nations again, and I will bring them back to their own lands again. Each clan will come back to its own land. BSB BSB: But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
16 ARST And if the people of the other nations whose armies have invaded Israel learn the religious customs of my people, and if they learn that I am listening when they solemnly promise that they will do something, like they taught my people to believe that their god Baal was listening when they made solemn promises, I will cause them to become prosperous, and they also will be my people. BSB BSB: And 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.
17 ARST But I will expel any nation whose people refuse to obey me, and I will destroy that nation and its people. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.” BSB BSB: But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.