12: 1-6 presents Jeremiah's very deep unhappiness when he sees evil men apparently flourishing while the prophet who speaks for God faces opposition and persecution. Jeremiah knows that God is right in all that he asks of his people but he can find no answer to his question as to why he, God's prophet, suffers while his evil persecutors flourish. In this dialogue, God does not give Jeremiah the answer which he is looking for, but tells him that it is his task to persevere with his prophetic ministry in even more difficult conditions: 'Jeremiah, if you get tired of racing against men, how can you race against horses?' Jeremiah has to continue trusting God even if he finds no answer to his question about suffering. Verse 6 refers to the first plot against Jeremiah's life when his own community planned to kill him at Anathoth.

12: 7-13. In the poem in these verses some light is cast on the problem which the prophet faces, when the pain and sorrow of God over the evil into which his people have fallen, is expressed. God's pain over the evil which fills his people is even greater than Jeremiah's pain at their rejection of his messages to them. There is still no answer given as to why evil is so strong, but it is revealed to Jeremiah that he is not alone in his pain; God shares his agony with him.

12: 14-17. When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, God had told him that he was called to be a prophet to the nations; his task was not limited to his own people. Jeremiah understood what Amos and Isaiah before him had understood, that God's Lordship was over all the nations of the earth. Jeremiah's message extended beyond Israel. In this passage God says that even the nations which have ruined Israel and who are now called wicked, could become God's people if they repented of their evil ways and became true worshippers of God. This passage looks forward to universal faith in God amongst all nations.