4. How much longer will the land be dry? How long will the grass be dry and dead? The birds and the animals of this land have all died, and it is the fault of the wicked. But they are saying, “Jeremiah will not live long enough to see what happens to us.”
5. “Jeremiah, if running in a race against men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you trip and fall in a safe place, what will you do in a dangerous place? What will you do in the thornbushes that grow along the Jordan River?
6. These men are your own brothers. Members of your own family are making plans against you. People from your own family are shouting at you. Don’t trust them, even when they speak to you like friends.
7. “I have abandoned my house. I have left my own property. I have given Judah, the one I love, to her enemies.
8. My own people turned against me like a wild lion. They roared at me, so I turned away from them.
9. My own people have become like a dying animal surrounded by vultures. These birds are circling around her. Come on, wild animals. Come get something to eat.