Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 12:4

"How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end." — Jeremiah 12:4 (ASV)

How long shall the land mourn ... —The Hebrew punctuation gives a different division: How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field (that is, all the open country) wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, cattle and birds perish, for, they say, he (that is, the prophet) will not see our latter end (that is, we will outlive him, though he prophesies our destruction).

A slightly different reading, however, adopted by the Septuagint and by some modern scholars, would give for the last clause, "He (God) seeth not our ways," that is, will leave us unpunished. The opening words point to a time of distress, probably of drought and famine.

But out of this wretchedness, the men who were Jeremiah’s enemies—the forestallers, and monopolists, and usurers of the time—continued to enrich themselves and scornfully defied all his warnings.