Jeremiah 12:5 - 12:13

“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out,

Then how can you compete with horses?

If you fall down in a land of peace,

How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

For even your brothers and the household of your father,

Even they have dealt treacherously with you,

Even they have called aloud after you.

Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”

“I have forsaken My house;

I have abandoned My inheritance;

I have given the beloved of My soul

Into the hand of her enemies.

My inheritance has become to Me

Like a lion in the forest;

She has given forth its voice against Me;

Therefore I have come to hate her.

Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?

Are the birds of prey against her on every side?

Go, gather all the beasts of the field,

Bring them to devour!

Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard;

They have trampled down My portion;

They have made My desired portion

A desolate wilderness.

It has been made a desolation;

Desolate, it mourns before Me;

The whole land has been made desolate

Because no man sets it upon his heart.

On all the bare heights in the wilderness

Destroyers have come,

For a sword of Yahweh is devouring

From one end of the land even to the other;

There is no peace for any flesh.

They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;

They have strained themselves to no profit.

But be ashamed of your produce

Because of the burning anger of Yahweh.”