Jeremiah 12:1

¹⁵Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

⁷though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

¹Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

³⁵I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

⁴Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

⁴Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

³For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. ⁷Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. ⁸They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression. ⁹They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. ¹⁰Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. ¹¹They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” ¹²Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. ¹³Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, ¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. ¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. ¹⁶When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me— ¹⁷until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end. ¹⁸Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. ¹⁹How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. ²⁰As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord,^[+] when you awake, you will despise their fantasies. ²¹For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart. ²²I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. ²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand. ²⁴You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. ²⁶My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ²⁷For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. ²⁸But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord GOD ^[+] my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

⁷“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.

⁵The LORD, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.