Jeremiah 12:11

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

biblegateway Jer 12:11

It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no-one who cares.

biblegateway Jer 12:11

"It has been made a desolation, Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made desolate, Because no man lays it to heart.

biblegateway Jer 12:11

They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.

biblegateway Jer 12:11

They leave them littered with junk--a ruined land, a land in lament. The whole countryside is a wasteland, and no one will really care.

SABDAweb Jer 12:11

They have made it waste; it is weeping to me, being wasted; all the land is made waste, because no man takes it to heart.

bibleoremus Jer 12:11

They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no one lays it to heart.

biblegateway Jer 12:11

They have made it desolate; Desolate, it mourns to Me; The whole land is made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.

biblegateway Jer 12:11

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

¹ tn For the use of this verb see the notes on 12:4. Some understand the homonym here meaning “it [the desolated land] will mourn to me.” However, the only other use of the preposition עַל (’al) with this root means “to mourn over” not “to” (cf. Hos 10:5). For the use of the preposition here see BDB 753 s.v. עַל II.1.b and compare the use in Gen 48:7.

² tn Heb “But there is no man laying it to heart.” For the idiom here see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב II.3.d and compare the usage in Isa 42:25; 47:7.

² sn There is a very interesting play on words and sounds in this verse that paints a picture of desolation and the pathos it evokes. Part of this is reflected in the translation. The same Hebrew word referring to a desolation or a waste (שְׁמֵמָה, shÿmemah) is repeated three times at the end of three successive lines and the related verb is found at the beginning of the fourth (נָשַׁמָּה, nashammah). A similar sounding word is found in the second of the three successive lines (שָׁמָהּ, shamah = “he [they] will make it”). This latter word is part of a further play because it is repeated in a different form in the last line (שָׁם, sham = “laying”); they lay it waste but no one lays it to heart. There is also an interesting contrast between the sorrow the Lord feels and the inattention of the people.