1 Righteous `art' Thou, O Jehovah, When I plead towards thee, Only, judgments do I speak with Thee, Wherefore did the way of the wicked prosper? At rest have been all treacherous dealers.
Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth. Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses `are' peace without fear, Nor `is' a rod of God upon them. His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry. They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip, They lift `themselves' up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ. They wear out in good their days, And in a moment `to' Sheol go down. And they say to God, `Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired. What `is' the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?'
Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he, And Thou makest man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing -- none ruling over him. Each of them with a hook he hath brought up, He doth catch it in his net, and gathereth it in his drag, Therefore he doth joy and rejoice. Therefore he doth sacrifice to his net, And doth make perfume to his drag, For by them `is' his portion fertile, and his food fat. Doth he therefore empty his net, And continually to slay nations spare not?
As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich. They have been fat, they have shone, Yea, they have overpassed the acts of the evil, Judgment they have not judged, The judgment of the fatherless -- and they prosper, And the judgment of the needy they have not judged.
Till when `do' the wicked, O Jehovah? Till when do the wicked exult? They utter -- they speak an old saw, All working iniquity do boast themselves.
And, if our unrighteousness God's righteousness doth establish, what shall we say? is God unrighteous who is inflicting the wrath? (after the manner of a man I speak) let it not be! since how shall God judge the world?
The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death, And their might `is' firm. In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued. Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress. Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed; They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak. They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth. Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them. And they have said, `How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?' Lo, these `are' the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength. Only -- a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash in innocency my hands, And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof `is' every morning. If I have said, `I recount thus,' Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived. And I think to know this, Perverseness it `is' in mine eyes, Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end. Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations. How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors. As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest. For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves, And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee. And I `am' continually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand. With Thy counsel Thou dost lead me, And after honour dost receive me. Whom have I in the heavens? And with Thee none I have desired in earth. Consumed hath been my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart and my portion `is' God to the age. For, lo, those far from Thee do perish, Thou hast cut off every one, Who is going a whoring from Thee. And I -- nearness of God to me `is' good, I have placed in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 12
Commentary on Jeremiah 12 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The prophet's displeasure at the prosperity of the wicked. - The enmity experienced by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen at Anathoth excites his displeasure at the prosperity of the wicked, who thrive and live with immunity. He therefore beings to expostulate with God, and demands from God's righteousness that they be cut off out of the land (Jeremiah 12:1-4); whereupon the Lord reproves him for this outburst of ill-nature and impatience by telling him that he must patiently endure still worse. - This section, the connection of which with the preceding is unmistakeable, shows by a concrete instance the utter corruptness of the people; and it has been included in the prophecies because it sets before us the greatness of God's long-suffering towards a people ripe for destruction.
Jeremiah 12:1
"Righteous art Thou, Jahveh, if I contend with Thee; yet will I plead with Thee in words. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper, are all secure that deal faithlessly? Jeremiah 12:2. Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; grow, yea, bring forth fruit. Near art Thou in their mouth, yet far from their reins. Jeremiah 12:3. But Thou, Jahveh, knowest me, seest me, and triest mine heart toward Thee. Tear them away like sheep to the slaughter, and devote them for a day of slaughter. Jeremiah 12:4. How long is the earth to mourn and the herb of the field to wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, gone are cattle and fowl; for they say: He sees not our end. Jeremiah 12:5. If with the footmen thou didst run and they wearied thee, how couldst thou contend with the horses? and if thou trustest in the land of peace, how wilt thou do in the glory of Jordan? Jeremiah 12:6. For even thy brethren and they father's house, even they are faithless towards thee, yea, they call after thee with full voice. Believe them not, though they speak friendly to thee."