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¹ RIGHTEOUS art thou. O LORD, when I plead with thee; yet let me talk of justice before thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all the treacherous men rich?² Thou hast planted them; yea, their roots have become strong; they grow, they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth, and far from their hearts.³ But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou hast seen me and tried my heart before thee; prepare them like sheep for the slaughter, and invite them for the day of destruction.⁴ How long shall the land mourn and all herbs of the field wither for the wickedness of those who dwell therein? The cattle and the birds are consumed because wicked men have said, We shall not see an end.⁵ If you have run with footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you run with horses? And if on the level land, where you have confidence, they have wearied you, then how will you cross the raging Jordan?⁶ For since your brethren and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously against you; yea, they also have gossiped about you; believe them not when they speak well of you.

⁷ I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.⁸ My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against me; therefore I have hated it.⁹ My heritage has become to me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; go, assemble all the wild beasts of the field, bring them to devour her.¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion as a desolate wilderness.¹¹ They have made it desolate and destroyed it, and now being desolate, it cries out to me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays the law to heart.¹² The robbers are come upon all highways in the wilderness; for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land even to the other: no flesh shall have peace.¹³ They have sown wheat, but they shall reap thorns; they have labored hard, but they shall not profit; and they shall be ashamed of their crops because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

¹⁴ Thus says the LORD: Against all neighboring shepherds, who touch the inheritance which I have given to my people Israel to possess; behold, I will remove them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.¹⁵ And after 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.¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently teach my ways to my people, to swear by my name, As the LORD lives (as they taught them to swear by the name of Baal), then they shall dwell in the midst of my people.¹⁷ But if they will not obey, then I will utterly pluck up and destroy this people, says the LORD.