Dual Panel1Lord <03068>, you <0859> have always been fair <06662> whenever I have complained <07378> to <0413> you. However <0389>, I would like to speak <01696> with <0854> you about the disposition <04941> of justice <04941>. Why <04069> are wicked <07563> people successful <06743>? Why do all <03605> dishonest <0898> people have such easy lives <07951>?
2You plant <05193> them like trees and <01571> they put down <08327> their roots <08327>. They grow <01980> prosperous and <01571> are very fruitful <06529> <06213>. They always talk <06310> <07138> about you <0859>, but they really care nothing <07350> about you.
3But you <0859>, Lord <03068>, know <03045> all about me. You watch <07200> me and test <0974> my devotion <03820> to you. Drag <05423> these wicked men away <05423> like sheep <06629> to be slaughtered <02878>! Appoint <06942> a time <03117> when they will be killed <02028>!
4How long <04970> must the land <0776> be parched <056> and the grass <06212> in every <03605> field <07704> be withered <03001>? How long must the animals <0929> and the birds <05775> die <05595> because <03588> of the wickedness <07451> of the people who live <03427> in this land? For these people boast <0559>, “God will not <03808> see <07200> what happens <0319> to us.”
5The Lord answered, “If <03588> you have raced <07323> on foot <07273> against <0854> men and they have worn <03811> you out <03811>, how <0349> will you be able to compete <08474> with <0854> horses <05483>? And if you <0859> feel secure <0982> only in safe and open <07965> country <0776>, how <0349> will you manage <06213> in the thick undergrowth <01347> along the Jordan River <03383>?
6As a matter of fact, even <01571> your own brothers <0251> and the members <01004> of your own family <01> have betrayed <0898> you too <01571>. Even they <01992> have plotted <07121> to do away with <0310> you. So do not <0408> trust <0539> them even when they say <01696> kind things <02896> to <0413> you.
7“I will abandon <05800> my nation <01004>. I will forsake <05203> the <0853> people <05159> I call my own. I will turn <05414> my beloved <03033> people over to the power <03709> of their enemies <0341>.
8The people <05159> I call my own have turned on me like a lion <0738> in the forest <03293>. They have roared <06963> <05414> defiantly at me. So <03651> I will treat them as though I hate <08130> them.
9The people <05159> I call my own attack me like birds of prey <05861> or like hyenas <06641>. But other birds of prey <05861> are all around <05439> them. Let <01980> all <03605> the nations gather together <0622> like wild <07704> beasts <02416>. Let them come <0857> and destroy <0402> these people I call my own.
10Many <07227> foreign rulers <07462> will ruin <07843> the land where I planted my people <03754>. They will trample all over <0947> my chosen land <02513>. They will turn <05414> my beautiful <02532> land <02513> into a desolate <08077> wasteland <04057>.
11They will lay <07760> it waste <08076>. It will lie parched <056> and empty <08077> before me. The whole <03605> land <0776> will be laid waste <08074>. But <03588> no one <0369> living <0376> in it will pay <07760> any heed <03820>.
12A destructive army <07703> will come <0935> marching over the hilltops <08205> in the desert <04057>. For <03588> the Lord <03068> will use them as his destructive <0398> weapon against <02719> everyone <03605> from one end <07097> of the land <0776> <0776> to <05704> the other <07097>. No <0369> one <01320> <03605> will be safe <07965>.
13My people will sow <02232> wheat <02406>, but will harvest <07114> weeds <06975>. They will work until <02470> they are exhausted <02470>, but will get nothing <03276> <03808> from it. They will be disappointed <0954> in their harvests <08393> because the Lord <03068> will take them away in his fierce <02740> anger <0639>.
14“I, the Lord <03068>, also have something to say <0559> concerning <05921> the wicked <07451> nations who surround my land <07934> and have attacked and plundered <05060> the land <05159> that <0834> I gave <05157> to my people <05971> as a permanent possession. I say: ‘I will uproot <05428> the people of those nations from <05921> their lands <0127> and I will free <05428> the people of Judah <03063> who have been taken there.
15But after <0310> I have uprooted <05428> the people of those nations, I will relent <07725> and have pity <07355> on them. I will restore <07725> the people of each <0376> of those nations to their own lands <05159> and to their own country <0776>.
16But they must make sure you learn <03925> to follow the religious practices of my people <05971>. Once they taught <03925> my people <05971> to swear <07650> their oaths using the name of the god Baal <01168>. But then, they must swear <07650> oaths using my name <08034>, saying, “As surely as the Lord <03069> lives <02416>, I swear.” If they do these things, then they will be included <01129> among <08432> the people <05971> I call my own.
17But I will completely uproot <05428> <05428> and destroy <06> any of those nations <01471> that <01931> will not <03808> pay heed <08085>,’” says <05002> the Lord <03068>.