Jeremiah 12

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

Jeremiah asks God why the treacherous thrive, is told that harder days are coming, and then hears the Lord grieve over His own ruined vineyard and offer the nations a place in it.

No date is given. The Bible Dictionary places chapters 7–20 under Jehoiakim (608–597 B.C.); this chapter follows the plot at Anathoth reported in chapter 11 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapter 12 has no date of its own. It follows chapter 11, where the Lord tells Jeremiah that “the men of Anathoth” are seeking his life (Jer. 11:18–23), and the Bible Dictionary…

Chapter 12 has no date of its own. It follows chapter 11, where the Lord tells Jeremiah that “the men of Anathoth” are seeking his life (Jer. 11:18–23), and the Bible Dictionary arranges chapters 7–20 under the reign of Jehoiakim (608–597 B.C.). The Church's chapter heading gives the shape: “Jeremiah complains of the prosperity of the wicked—If other nations learn the ways of Israel, they will be numbered with Israel.”

The chapter is a conversation. Jeremiah speaks first, in verses 1–4, and asks the question raised in Ps. 73:3 and Mal. 3:13–15: why do the treacherous do well? The Lord's reply in verses 5–6 is not an explanation. It is a warning that Jeremiah's troubles are small beside what is coming, and that his own family will turn on him. From verse 7 the Lord speaks of “mine house” and “mine heritage,” which He has given into the hands of enemies, and in verses 14–17 He turns to the neighboring nations that have preyed on Judah, promising them judgment and then a way in.

The Church edition's footnotes tie verse 10 to Jacob's words about the Lord's vineyard (Jacob 6:2), verse 15 to Moses' promise of gathering (Deut. 30:3), and verse 17 to Isa. 60:12.

The thread through the chapter

Jeremiah asks a question about justice and is given a lesson in the cost of being a prophet: he “must patiently endure still worse.”

Jeremiah asks a question about justice and is given a lesson in the cost of being a prophet: he “must patiently endure still worse.” The Lord does not answer at once. He tells him that the way ahead is harder (verse 5), and then lets him hear what the Lord Himself is going through: He has left His house, handed over the “dearly beloved of my soul,” and watches the land mourn “unto me” (verses 7–11). The prophet asked how long the land must mourn, and the Lord's own words show that He is not indifferent to it.

The last four verses widen the view, and they are the nearest thing to an answer the chapter gives: in them “may clearly be seen the justice of God's government on earth.” Judah will be plucked out of its land, and so will the nations that touched its inheritance, but the Lord will return to both with compassion, and a nation that learns Israel's ways “shall be built in the midst of my people.” The verbs of that promise are the ones of Jeremiah's own commission in Jer. 1:10: pluck up, destroy, build. So the chapter that begins with Jeremiah's doubt ends by showing the work he was given being carried out, with an open door at the end of it.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–4

Jeremiah's question

In plain words

“Lord, you are right when I bring a case against you, but let me ask you about justice. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? Why do all the treacherous live at ease? You planted them and they took root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their inner selves. But you know me, Lord. You see me and test my heart toward you. Drag them off like sheep to the slaughter; set them apart for the day of killing. How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field dry up, because of the evil of those who live in it? Animals and birds are swept away, because they say, ‘He will not see our end.’”

1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

Related Scriptures #

An old question, asked respectfully

Jeremiah's question, why the wicked prosper while the faithful suffer, is one of the “age-old questions” of scripture, and he asks it by first granting that God is in the right:…

Jeremiah's question, why the wicked prosper while the faithful suffer, is one of the “age-old questions” of scripture, and he asks it by first granting that God is in the right: “Righteous art thou, O LORD.” He does not accuse God of injustice; he asks to “talk with thee of thy judgments.”

Others ask it too, and scripture gives them answers of two kinds. The psalmist “was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked,” and the matter stayed “too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end” (Ps. 73:3; Ps. 73:16–17). In Malachi's day people said, “It is vain to serve God… now we call the proud happy,” and the Lord answers with “a book of remembrance” for those who feared Him, and a day when “ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked” (Mal. 3:14–18). Both answers look to the end. Jeremiah gets something different in verse 5, a question back, and the whole chapter is built around what he is told instead.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Language #

Near in the mouth, far from the kidneys

The charge is that the wicked talk about God but do not mean it. “Reins” is the old English word for kidneys, and the Hebrew kilyot is the same: a physical organ that came to…

The charge is that the wicked talk about God but do not mean it. “Reins” is the old English word for kidneys, and the Hebrew kilyot is the same: a physical organ that came to stand for a person's inner self, the “affections,” and, “as involving character, the object of God's examination.” It usually pairs with “heart,” as in Jer. 11:20, where Jeremiah has just called God the one who “triest the reins and the heart.”

So Jeremiah's complaint contains his own appeal. The Church edition's footnote points to the Savior's words about people who “draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matt. 15:8).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

Context #

What lies behind the prayer

The “them” are Jeremiah's own townsmen. In chapter 11 the Lord shows Jeremiah that men of Anathoth are plotting against him, and Jeremiah says, “I was like a lamb or an ox that is…

The “them” are Jeremiah's own townsmen. In chapter 11 the Lord shows Jeremiah that men of Anathoth are plotting against him, and Jeremiah says, “I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me” (Jer. 11:18–19). Among those from whom he faced “continuous opposition and insult” were “his townsmen at Anathoth.” He asks the Lord to “let me see thy vengeance on them” (Jer. 11:20), and the Lord answers by promising to punish the men of Anathoth (Jer. 11:21–23).

Chapter 12 goes back over the same ground with a harder question. The enmity at Anathoth “excites his displeasure at the prosperity of the wicked, who thrive and live with immunity,” and he asks that they be “cut off out of the land.” His image, sheep led to the slaughter, is the one he used of himself in chapter 11, now turned on them.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.

Language #

Whose end is meant, the prophet's or God's?

The people's saying, “He shall not see our last end,” can be read two ways, and the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, chose one.

The people's saying, “He shall not see our last end,” can be read two ways, and the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, chose one. Brenton's translation has the people say, “God shall not see our ways,” which makes it a boast that God is not watching. The Hebrew says only “he,” and one reading prefers the prophet as the subject: they mock Jeremiah, whose threats they think will never come true, and say he will not live to see their end. On that reading the objection to taking “he” as God is that the verb “see” is used of God looking at what is present, not what is future.

Both readings describe the same attitude: the wicked treat judgment as an empty threat. The verse also shows that the innocent suffer with the guilty: “the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither,” and “the beasts are consumed, and the birds,” for the sins of those who live there.

Sources: The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

Verses 5–6

The Lord's answer

In plain words

“If you have raced with men on foot and they wore you out, how will you compete with horses? If you stumble in a land at peace, how will you manage in the thickets of the Jordan? Even your brothers and your father's house have been faithless to you; they have shouted after you at the top of their voices. Do not trust them, even when they speak well of you.”

5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

Imagery #

Footmen, horses, and the Jordan

The Lord's reply to Jeremiah's question is itself a question: if ordinary troubles have worn him out, what will he do against greater ones?

The Lord's reply to Jeremiah's question is itself a question: if ordinary troubles have worn him out, what will he do against greater ones? It is “a vivid answer that has helped many to build up their courage,” and the three images build on one another: if footmen have tired him, horses will be worse; if he is shaken “in a land of peace,” what will he do when the enemy “shall deluge every part of the land”?

The last image is disputed. The KJV's “swelling of Jordan” has been read as the river's flood, which drove lions out of the brush. Another reading takes the Hebrew phrase to mean the thick growth along the Jordan's banks, where lions lived, and points to Jer. 49:19 (“like a lion from the swelling of Jordan”), where the phrase is a haunt of lions. Either way the point is the same: what he has met so far is the easy part.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible … with a Commentary and Critical Notes, Online at Bible Hub (Clarke's Commentary). Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

Context #

Betrayed by his own family

The Lord tells Jeremiah that the treachery will come from his own household: “thy brethren, and the house of thy father.”

The Lord tells Jeremiah that the treachery will come from his own household: “thy brethren, and the house of thy father.” The betrayal reaches past the men of Anathoth in chapter 11 to his own family. They “have called a multitude after thee,” and the warning is “believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.”

The Church edition's footnote files the verse under “Prophets, Rejection of.” Jeremiah's call had said that those who would fight him included “the people of the land” (Jer. 1:18–19); here the opposition has family names.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 7–13

The Lord's grief over His heritage

In plain words

“I have abandoned my house and left my inheritance. I have given the one my soul loves into the hands of her enemies. My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest to me; it roars at me, so I have come to hate it. My inheritance is like a speckled bird to me, with birds of prey all around attacking her. Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to eat. Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard and trampled my field; they have turned my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. It lies desolate and mourns before me. The whole land is laid waste, because no one takes it to heart. Destroyers have come over all the heights in the wilderness, for the Lord's sword devours from one end of the land to the other; no one has peace. They sowed wheat and reaped thorns. They wore themselves out and gained nothing. They will be ashamed of your harvests because of the Lord's fierce anger.”

7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

Related Scriptures #

The Lord speaks of His own house

From verse 7 the Lord is the speaker, and He grieves. “Mine house” and “mine heritage” are Judah and the land, and “the dearly beloved of my soul” is His own people, given “into…

From verse 7 the Lord is the speaker, and He grieves. “Mine house” and “mine heritage” are Judah and the land, and “the dearly beloved of my soul” is His own people, given “into the hand of her enemies.” The Church edition's footnote sends the verse to Ps. 69:25, Jer. 22:5, and the words of Jesus over Jerusalem: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matt. 23:38).

Those cross-references have the same shape. In Jer. 22:5 the house will become a desolation if the people will not hear. Jesus speaks in the same words a long time later, after asking “how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” (Matt. 23:37). In both places the one who leaves the house is the one who has been calling its people.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

Imagery #

A speckled bird among birds of prey

The speckled bird stands for Judah, set upon by enemies: “Israel with her proud plumage has attracted the attention of birds of prey (enemies) who move in to attack her,” and the…

The speckled bird stands for Judah, set upon by enemies: “Israel with her proud plumage has attracted the attention of birds of prey (enemies) who move in to attack her,” and the Church edition's footnote identifies the “beasts of the field” invited to devour her as “Babylon and others.”

The Hebrew can also be read as “hyena,” and the Septuagint has “a hyaena's cave, or a cave round about her.” On either reading the picture is the same: Judah is prey, and those who come against it come because the Lord has summoned them: “come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field.” The lion of verse 8 is a different image: there the heritage “crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.”

10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Language #

Shepherds and the Lord's vineyard

“Pastors” is the KJV's word for shepherds, here the leaders of Judah, and “my vineyard” is Judah.

“Pastors” is the KJV's word for shepherds, here the leaders of Judah, and “my vineyard” is Judah. The Septuagint reads “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard.” The vineyard of the Lord “is the house of Israel” (Isa. 5:7). Jeremiah returns to these shepherds in chapters 21–23, which are “on pastors or rulers of the people”; there “the pastors (religious leaders) of Judah had not fed and protected the sheep.” The footnote at verse 10 sends the reader to “False Prophets.”

The footnote also sends the reader to Jacob, who, speaking of Zenos's tame olive tree (Jacob 6:1), says that when the Lord sets His hand “the second time to recover his people… the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard” (Jacob 6:2). Verse 11 gives the cause of the ruin here: the land is desolate “because no man layeth it to heart,” which the footnote glosses as “pays attention.”

Sources: The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.

12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.

13 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Verses 14–17

The neighbors, judged and invited

In plain words

This is what the Lord says about all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel: “I will pull them up out of their land, and I will pull up the house of Judah from among them. After I have pulled them up, I will again have compassion on them and bring each of them back to his own inheritance and land. If they will truly learn my people's ways and swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up among my people. But if any nation will not listen, I will pull it up and destroy it,” says the Lord.

14 Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

Context #

Judah's neighbors

The “evil neighbours” are the nations around Judah that have preyed on it.

The “evil neighbours” are the nations around Judah that have preyed on it. They are “the neighbouring heathen nations, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Syrians,” on one reading, and they stand as “representatives of the heathen nations,” so that “what is said of them is true for all the heathen.” The land is the Lord's own: the neighbors touch “the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit.”

The surprise is that the same verb covers both parties. The Lord will “pluck them out of their land,” and “the house of Judah from among them.” What follows is on one reading the point of the oracle: “The spoilers of the Lord's heritage are also to be carried off out of their land; but after they, like Judah, have been punished, the Lord will have pity on them.”

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

Related Scriptures #

After the plucking, compassion

The Lord promises to “return, and have compassion on” the nations after He has plucked them out, and to bring each person back “to his heritage… to his land.”

The Lord promises to “return, and have compassion on” the nations after He has plucked them out, and to bring each person back “to his heritage… to his land.” The Church edition ties the verse to Deut. 30:3, where Moses had told Israel that if they repented, “the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations.” The footnote also files the verse under “Israel, Gathering of.”

So a promise first made to Israel is here extended to the very nations who ravaged Israel. Can the spoilers of Judah be blessed by the Lord? Verse 16 gives the condition.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.

Related Scriptures #

Joining Israel

The condition is that the nations learn “the ways of my people” and swear by the Lord's name, “as they taught my people to swear by Baal.”

The condition is that the nations learn “the ways of my people” and swear by the Lord's name, “as they taught my people to swear by Baal.” The nations are asked to reverse what they taught Judah. Those who do “shall be built in the midst of my people”: they “shall receive citizenship amongst God's people and be built up amongst them.” The chapter heading puts it this way: “If other nations learn the ways of Israel, they will be numbered with Israel.”

The offer comes inside a judgment oracle, so the Lord's anger and His open door are spoken in the same breath. Verse 17 gives the other side.

17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.

Related Scriptures #

Jeremiah's commission, carried out

Verses 14–17 use the verbs of Jeremiah's call. In Jer. 1:10 the Lord set him “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

Verses 14–17 use the verbs of Jeremiah's call. In Jer. 1:10 the Lord set him “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” The Hebrew verb behind “root out” there (natash) is the one behind “pluck out” in verses 14–15 and “pluck up” in verse 17. The verb behind “destroy” (abad) returns in verse 17, and the verb for “build” (banah) is the one in verse 16: “then shall they be built.” The plucking and the building, which were Jeremiah's assignment, are here the Lord's own way of dealing with Judah and with the nations.

The Church edition's footnote to verse 17 points to Isa. 60:12: “the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” The chapter ends with both on offer: building if the nation hears, plucking up if it will not.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 12

The Lord who speaks in verses 7–13 grieves over His house, and Jesus voices the same grief over Jerusalem: “how often would I have gathered thy children together… and ye would not” (Matt. 23:37–38). “Jehovah is the premortal Jesus Christ,” so the Lord who says “I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies” is the one who spoke over Jerusalem in Matthew. The chapter's last verses, with the nations invited to be “built in the midst of my people,” point to the same Lord, who, after the plucking up, will “return, and have compassion.”

Worth exploring next

Others who put Jeremiah's question: Ps. 73 and Mal. 3:13–18. Read what changes the speaker's mind.
The plot at Anathoth, which comes just before: Jer. 11:18–23.
The Lord as vineyard-owner: Isa. 5:1–7 and Jacob 5–Jacob 6.
The nations joining Israel: compare the promise in verse 16 with 3 Ne. 21:22–24.

Sources & further reading

Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Chapter 25: Prophecies of a Latter-day Gathering (Jeremiah 23; 30–31; 33; 46–51; Obadiah), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Jehovah”, Bible Dictionary.
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible … with a Commentary and Critical Notes, Online at Bible Hub (Clarke's Commentary).
The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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