Why does the Lord say that he has forsaken his house, abandoned his heritage and given his beloved into the hands of her enemies?

After responding to Jeremiah’s complaint in Jeremiah 12:5–6, the Lord now continues to speak in Jeremiah 12:7–17. The passage in Jeremiah 12:7–17, written in poetry, is similar in form to the complaint portion of a lament, while the oracle in Jeremiah 12:14–17, written in prose, is equivalent to the divine response to the lament.¹ This lament is closely related to Jeremiah’s lament in Jeremiah 11:18–12:6. The Lord shifts the focus from the sadness and confusion that Jeremiah experienced due to his family’s betrayal, to his own sadness at the faithlessness of his people.²

The text gives no certainty about what events are in mind. The verbs in the poem are perfect tense, which means they can either refer to past events or they can be understood as prophetic perfect tense, where future events are so certain that they are described as past events.³ It seems preferable to assume the prophetic perfect tense and some of the language suggests a time when bands of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites attacked in 598/7 BC just before the full invasion by Babylon (see further Jeremiah 12:9–10, Jeremiah 12:12; 2 Kings 24:2).⁴

 The three terms, house, heritage, and beloved of my soul that the Lord uses in the opening verse could be a reference to the temple (house), land (heritage), and the people (beloved), or all three could refer to the people. The thought, expressed in this verse, is probably more powerfully made if all three words are taken as a description of the people. With each word the Lord’s description of his people becomes more personal and intimate. This forms a powerful contrast with the three descriptions of actions he is taking against them; I have forsaken, I have abandoned, and I have given. The pain of delivering his people over to their enemy in judgment is strongly expressed.⁵

 The placement of the Lord’s lament immediately after Jeremiah’s lament in Jeremiah 11:18–12:6 not only means that the Lord shares in Jeremiah’s sadness at Judah’s fate, but it also challenges Jeremiah to see his questions and suffering in the light of the difficulty the Lord is facing over the evil of his people and the judgment he will bring against them.⁶ The connection between the Lord’s lament and Jeremiah's lament is confirmed by the common image of the land mourning or being desolate.⁷