The Prosperity of the Wicked
Righteous are You, O LORD, Mal 3:15Psa 92:7Psa 37:1Psa 37:35Psa 51:4Psa 73:3-28Dan 9:7Hab 1:4
when I plead before You.
Yet about Your judgments
I wish to contend with You:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
You planted them, and they have taken root. Isa 29:13Tit 1:16Mat 15:8Jer 11:17Ezk 17:5-10Ezk 33:31Jer 45:4Ezk 19:10-13
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,
but far from their hearts. 1
But You know me, O LORD; 2Ki 20:3Jer 17:18Psa 139:1-4Jas 5:5Psa 17:3Jer 50:27Psa 139:23Psa 26:1
You see me and test my heart toward You.
Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter
and set them apart for the day of carnage.
How long will the land mourn Jer 9:10Psa 107:34Hos 4:3Jer 4:25Jer 23:10Jer 5:31Jer 7:20Rom 8:22
and the grass of every field be withered?
Because of the evil of its residents,
the animals and birds have been swept away,
for the people have said,
“He cannot see what our end will be.”
God’s Answer to Jeremiah
“If you have raced with men on foot 1Pe 4:12Pro 24:10Heb 12:3-4Jer 49:19Jer 50:44Psa 42:7Psa 69:1-2Pro 3:11
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in a peaceful land,
how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
Even your brothers— Pro 26:25Jer 9:4Psa 12:2Gen 37:4-11Mic 7:5-6Mat 10:21Jer 11:19Jer 11:21
your own father’s household—
even they have betrayed you;
even they have cried aloud against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
I have forsaken My house; Isa 2:6Psa 78:59-60Jer 11:15Hos 9:15Lam 2:1-22Ezk 24:21Ezk 7:20-21Jer 51:5
I have abandoned My inheritance.
I have given the love of My life
into the hands of her enemies.
My inheritance has become to Me Amo 6:8Hos 9:15Zec 11:8Jer 2:15Jer 51:38
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against Me;
therefore I hate her.
Is not My inheritance to Me Isa 56:9Jer 7:332Ki 24:2Ezk 23:22-25Rev 19:17-18Ezk 16:36-37Ezk 39:17-20Jer 15:3
like a speckled bird of prey
with other birds of prey 2circling against her?
Go, gather all the beasts of the field;
bring them to devour her.
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; Isa 5:1-7Isa 63:18Jer 23:1Jer 3:19Jer 6:3Luk 20:9-16Psa 80:8-16Isa 43:28
they have trampled My plot of ground.
They have turned My pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
They have made it a desolation; Isa 42:25Jer 23:10Jer 14:2Ecc 7:2Isa 57:1Jer 10:22Jer 10:25Jer 12:4-8
desolate before Me, it mourns.
All the land is laid waste,
but no man takes it to heart.
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness Amo 9:4Jer 47:6Ezk 14:17Isa 34:6Ezk 5:2Isa 57:21Isa 66:15-16Jer 15:2
the destroyers have come,
for the sword of the LORD devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No flesh has peace.
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. Deu 28:38Hag 1:6Mic 6:15Isa 55:2Lev 26:16Hab 2:13Jer 25:37-38Jer 4:26
They have exhausted themselves to no avail.
Bear the shame of your harvest
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
A Message for Israel’s Neighbors
(Amos 1:1–15)
This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. Jer 3:18Zec 2:8Jer 49:7Zec 10:6-12Zep 2:8-10Deu 30:3Ezk 25:1-17Isa 11:11-16 But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. Jer 49:6Jer 48:47Jer 49:39Amo 9:14Deu 30:3Deu 3:20Isa 23:17-18Num 32:18
And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people. Jer 4:2Jos 23:7Zep 1:5Deu 10:20-21Jer 3:17Zec 2:11Eph 2:19-22Isa 45:23 But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.” Isa 60:12Psa 2:8-121Pe 2:6-82Th 1:8Dan 11:4Dan 7:4-8Ezk 19:12Jer 12:14-17