# Jeremiah 12 📖: Why Do the Wicked Prosper [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Jeremiah Overview]] | [[Jeremiah 11]] | [[Jeremiah 13]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jeremiah Appeals to God [[#Verse 01.]] Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives? [[#Verse 02.]] You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. [[#Verse 03.]] But you, Lord, know all about me. You watch me and test my devotion to you. Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered! Appoint a time when they will be killed! [[#Verse 04.]] How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast, “God will not see what happens to us.” ### God Answers Jeremiah [[#Verse 05.]] The Lord answered,“If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only in safe and open country, how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? [[#Verse 06.]] As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you as well. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you. [[#Verse 07.]] “I will abandon my nation. I will forsake the people I call my own. I will turn my beloved people over to the power of their enemies. [[#Verse 08.]] The people I call my own have turned on me like a lion in the forest. They have roared defiantly at me, so I will treat them as though I hate them. [[#Verse 09.]] The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas. But other birds of prey are all around them. Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts. Let them come and destroy these people I call my own. [[#Verse 10.]] Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people. They will trample all over my chosen land. They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wilderness. [[#Verse 11.]] They will lay it waste. It will lie parched and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste, but no one living in it will pay any heed. [[#Verse 12.]] A destructive army will come marching over the hilltops in the wilderness. For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon against everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe. [[#Verse 13.]] My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger. [[#Verse 14.]] “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning the wicked nations who surround my land and have attacked and plundered the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession. I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their land and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.  [[#Verse 15.]] But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country.  [[#Verse 16.]] But they must make sure to learn to follow the religious practices of my people. Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” If they do these things, then they will be included among the people I call my own.  [[#Verse 17.]] But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Jeremiah's complaint in 12:1-4 is one of several personal laments, often called his "confessions" (11:18-12:6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18). 2. Jeremiah begins by affirming God's righteousness before asking his question (12:1). 3. The "thickets of the Jordan" (12:5) were dense jungle-like growth along the river where lions lived (49:19). 4. God warns Jeremiah that even his own brothers and his father's household had betrayed him (12:6). 5. God calls Israel "the one I deeply love" (12:7) even while handing her over to enemies. 6. Judah is pictured as a speckled bird of prey attacked by other birds (12:9). 7. Many shepherds (foreign rulers) have trampled God's vineyard (12:10). 8. The "wicked neighbors" (12:14) are the surrounding nations that attacked Judah. 9. God promises to bring even these nations back if they learn to swear by His name (12:16). 10. The idea of the nations being "built up among My people" (12:16) anticipates the inclusion of Gentiles. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who endured hostility from sinners so we would not grow weary (Hebrews 12:3). When Jeremiah asked why the wicked prosper (12:1), God prepared him to run on, and Jesus ran the whole race ahead of us. ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jeremiah honestly asks God why the wicked prosper (12:1). What does his prayer teach about bringing hard questions to God? 2. God answers, "If you have raced with men on foot and they wore you out, how can you compete with horses?" (12:5). How has God used smaller struggles to prepare you for bigger ones? 3. Even Judah's enemies are offered a future if they learn the ways of God's people (12:16). What does this reveal about God's heart for the nations? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Lord, You are righteous, yet I want to ask You why the wicked prosper. - 📖 verse 5: If you are worn out racing with men on foot, how will you compete with horses? - 📖 verse 15: After uprooting them, God will have compassion and bring each one back to his inheritance. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Hebrews 12#Verse 01.|Hebrews 12:1-3]] - Run with endurance, looking to Jesus. - 🔗 [[Psalm 73#Verse 02.|Psalm 73:2-17]] - The psalmist struggles with the prosperity of the wicked. - 🔗 [[Habakkuk 01#Verse 02.|Habakkuk 1:2-4]] - How long, Lord, will You let injustice continue? - 🔗 [[Ephesians 02#Verse 12.|Ephesians 2:12-13]] - Those who were far away are brought near. - 🔗 [[Matthew 10#Verse 36.|Matthew 10:36]] - A person's enemies will be members of his household. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Jeremiah 12 - SOAP|Toughen Up]] ## 📂 Internal Notes