Day 234: Jeremiah Complains (2026)

The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Ascension

In this episode of 'The Bible in a Year,' Fr. Mike Schmitz explores Jeremiah chapters 12 and 13, where the prophet voices deep anguish over the prosperity of the wicked and the

Key takeaways

• Jeremiah's lament reveals the tension between divine justice and the apparent success of the wicked, highlighting God's ultimate fairness.
• The ruined linen waistcloth symbolizes how Israel has become useless due to spiritual pride and disobedience despite being intimately connected to God.

Main topics

• Prophetic lament in Jeremiah
• Divine justice vs. human prosperity

Notable quotes

"Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?"

Conclusion

Fr. Mike Schmitz closes with a powerful invitation to self-examination

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 200. 34. We're reading today from Jeremiah chapter 12 and 13, as well as Ezekiel 41 and 42. We're also praying, or I guess we're praying Proverbs. Why not? Proverbs 15 verses 9 through 12. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and updates. It is day 234. We're reading Jeremiah 12 and 13, Ezekiel 41 and 42, back to the temple, the new temple to be built, and Proverbs 15 verses 9 through 12. Speaker 1 (1:02) The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 12. Jeremiah complains to God. Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you, yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them and they take root. They grow and bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their heart. But you, O Lord, know me. You see me and test my mind toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and set them apart for the day of slaughter. How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds are swept away because men said he will not see our latter end. If you have raced with men on foot and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan? For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. They are in full cry after you. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to you. I have forsaken my house. I have abandoned my heritage. I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up her voice against me. Therefore, I hate her. Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her roundabout? Go, assemble all the wild beasts. Bring them to devour. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trampled down my portion. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation, desolate. It mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. Upon all the bare heights in the desert, destroyers have come, for the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land to the other. No flesh has peace. They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns. They have tired themselves out, but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the Lord. The Lord's answer. Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage which I have given my people Israel to inherit. Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name as the Lord lives. Even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, says the Lord. Speaker 1 (3:45) Chapter 13. The Linen Wastecloth. Thus said the Lord to me, Go and buy a linen wastecloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water. So I bought a wastecloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, Take the wastecloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. And after many days the Lord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the wastecloth which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the wastecloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the wastecloth was spoiled. It was good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to me. Thus says the Lord, Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly followed their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing. For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. Speaker 1 (5:04) The jars filled with wine. You shall speak to them this word. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, every jar shall be filled with wine. And they will say to you, do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine? Then you shall say to them, thus says the Lord, behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion that I should not destroy them. Hear and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your