7 I have forsaken My house, I have left Mine inheritance, I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies. 8 Mine inheritance hath been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, Therefore I have hated her. 9 A speckled fowl 'is' Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food. 10 Many shepherds did destroy My vineyard, They have trodden down My portion, They have made My desirable portion Become a wilderness—a desolation. 11 He hath made it become a desolation, The desolation hath mourned unto Me, Desolated hath been all the land, But there is no one laying it to heart. 12 On all high places in the plain have spoilers come in, For the sword of Jehovah is consuming, From the end of the land even unto the end of the land, There is no peace to any flesh. 13 They sowed wheat, and have thorns reaped, They have become sick—they profit not, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 12:7-13
Commentary on Jeremiah 12:7-13
(Read Jeremiah 12:7-13)
God's people had been the dearly-beloved of his soul, precious in his sight, but they acted so, that he gave them up to their enemies. Many professing churches become like speckled birds, presenting a mixture of religion and the world, with its vain fashions, pursuits, and pollutions. God's people are as men wondered at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their own folly made themselves so; and the beasts and birds are called to prey upon them. The whole land would be made desolate. But until the judgments were actually inflicted, none of the people would lay the warning to heart. When God's hand is lifted up, and men will not see, they shall be made to feel. Silver and gold shall not profit in the day of the Lord's anger. And the efforts of sinners to escape misery, without repentance and works answerable thereto, will end in confusion.