12:1 LORD, you have always been fair
whenever I have complained to you.¹
However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.²
Why are wicked people successful?³
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
12:2 You planted them here on earth and they have put down their roots.⁴
They have grown prosperous and been very fruitful.⁵
They are always talking about you,
but they really care nothing about you.⁶
12:3 But you, LORD, know all about me.
You watch me and test my devotion to you.⁷
Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered.
Appoint a time when they will to be killed.⁸
12:4 How long must the land be dried up⁹
and the grass in every field be withered?
How long¹⁰ must the animals and the birds die
because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land?¹¹
For these people say,
“God¹² will not see what happens to us.”¹³

12:5 The LORD answered,¹⁴

“If you have raced against men on foot and they have worn you out,
how will you be able to compete with horse?
And if you feel secure only¹⁵ in safe and open country,¹⁶
how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?¹⁷
12:6 As a matter of fact,¹⁸ even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you too. Even they have lifted up loud cries to do away with you.¹⁹ So do not believe them even when they say kind things²⁰ to you.”
12:7 “I will abandon my nation.²¹
I will forsake the people I call my own.²²
I will turn my beloved people²³
over to the power²⁴ of their enemies.
12:8 The people I call my own²⁵ have turned on me
like a lion²⁶ in the forest.
They have roared defiantly²⁷ at me.
So I will treat them as though I hate them.²⁸
12:9 The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or hyenas.²⁹
But other birds of prey are all around them.³⁰
Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts.
Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.³¹
12:10 Many foreign rulers³² will ruin the land where I planted my people.³³
They will trample all over my chosen land.³⁴
They will turn my beautiful land
into a desolate wasteland.
12:11 They will lay it waste.
It will lie parched³⁵ and empty before me.
The whole land will be laid waste.
But no one living in it will pay any heed.³⁶
12:12 A destructive army³⁷ will come sweeping
over the hilltops in the desert.
For the LORD will use them as His destructive weapon against³⁸
everyone from one end of the land to the other.
No one will be safe.³⁹
12:13 My people will sow wheat but will harvest weeds.⁴⁰
They will work until they are exhausted but will get nothing from it.
They will be disappointed in their harvests⁴¹
because the LORD will take them away in His fierce anger.”⁴²

12:14 “I, the LORD, also have something to say concerning⁴³ the wicked nations who surround my land⁴⁴ and have attacked and plundered⁴⁵ the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession.⁴⁶ I say, ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.⁴⁷ 12:15 But after I have uprooted the people of those nations I will relent⁴⁸ and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands⁴⁹ and to their own country. 12:16 But they must carefully learn to follow the religious practices of my people.⁵⁰ Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal.⁵¹ But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, I swear…’.⁵² If they do these things,⁵³ then they will be included among the people I call my own.⁵⁴ 12:17 But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,”⁵⁵ says the LORD.