Jeremiah 12:4

Jeremiah's Complaint

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But You, O Lord, know me [and understand my devotion to You];
You see me;
And You examine the attitude of my heart toward You.
Drag out the faithless like sheep for the slaughter [O Lord]
And set them apart for the day of slaughter.
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How long must the land mourn
And the grass of the countryside wither?
Because of the wickedness and hypocrisy of those who live in it,
The beasts and the birds are consumed and are swept away [by the drought],
Because men [mocking me] have said, “He will not [live long enough to] see [what happens at] our final end.” ⁵
[The Lord rebukes Jeremiah for his impatience, saying] “If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace [where you feel secure],
Then how will you do [among the lions] in the [flooded] thicket beside the Jordan?

How Long

Wild Animals

Jeremiah 9:10

“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness,
Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them];
Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle.
Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

Jeremiah 4:25

I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the air had fled.

Psalm 107:34

A productive land into a [barren] salt waste,
Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

Jeremiah 7:20

Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched.”

Jeremiah 23:10

For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);
The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;
And their power is not right.

Hosea 4:3

Therefore the land [continually] mourns,
And everyone who lives in it languishes [in tragic suffering]
Together with the animals of the open country and the birds of the heavens;
Even the fish of the sea disappear.

Jeremiah 5:31

The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love [to have] it so!
But what will you do when the end comes?

Joel 1:10-17

The field is ruined,
The ground mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The fresh oil fails.

Habakkuk 3:17

Though the fig tree does not blossom
And there is no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive fails
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock is cut off from the fold
And there are no cattle in the stalls,

Romans 8:22

For we know that the whole creation has been moaning together as in the pains of childbirth until now.

Psalm 50:21

“These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.

Jeremiah 4:28

“For this reason the earth shall mourn
And the heavens above shall become dark,
Because I have spoken, I have decided,
And I will not change my mind (relent), nor will I turn back from it.”

Jeremiah 5:13

“The prophets are like the wind [their prophecy will not come to pass],
And the word [of God] is not in them.
In this manner it will be done to them [as they prophesied, not to us].”

Jeremiah 14:2

“Judah mourns
And her gates languish;
Her people sit on the ground in mourning clothes
And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

Ezekiel 7:2-13

“Also, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.