Jeremiah 14–15

Chapter 14

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

1 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the adrought:

2 “Judah mourns

And aher gates languish;

They sit on the ground bin mourning,

And the ccry of Jerusalem has ascended.

3 “Their nobles have asent their 1servants for water;

They have come to the bcisterns and found no water.

They have returned with their vessels empty;

They have been cput to shame and humiliated,

And they dcover their heads.

4 “Because the aground is 1cracked,

For there has been bno rain on the land;

The cfarmers have been put to shame,

They have covered their heads.

5 “For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,

Because there is ano grass.

6 “The awild donkeys stand on the bare heights;

They pant for air like jackals,

Their eyes fail

For there is bno vegetation.

7 “Although our ainiquities testify against us,

O Lord, act bfor Your name’s sake!

Truly our capostasies have been many,

We have dsinned against You.

8 “O aHope of Israel,

Its bSavior in ctime of distress,

Why are You like a stranger in the land

Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?

9 “Why are You like a man dismayed,

Like a mighty man who acannot save?

Yet bYou are in our midst, O Lord,

And we are ccalled by Your name;

Do not forsake us!”

10 Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have aloved to wander; they have not bkept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does cnot accept them; now He will dremember their iniquity and call their sins to account.”

11 So the Lord said to me, “aDo not pray for the welfare of this people.

12 “When they fast, I am anot going to listen to their cry; and when they offer bburnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to cmake an end of them by the dsword, famine and pestilence.”

False Prophets

13 But, “Ah, Lord 1God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You awill not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you 2lasting bpeace in this place.’ ”

14 Then the Lord said to me, “The aprophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. bI have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a cfalse vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own 1minds.

15 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—aby sword and famine those prophets shall 1meet their end!

16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be athrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bbury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will cpour out their own wickedness on them.

17 “You will say this word to them,

‘aLet my eyes flow down with tears night and day,

And let them not cease;

For the virgin bdaughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,

With a sorely cinfected wound.

18 ‘If I ago out to the country,

Behold, those 1slain with the sword!

Or if I enter the city,

Behold, diseases of famine!

For bboth prophet and priest

Have 2gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’ ”

19 Have You completely arejected Judah?

Or have 1You loathed Zion?

Why have You stricken us so that we bare beyond healing?

We cwaited for peace, but nothing good came;

And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

20 We aknow our wickedness, O Lord,

The iniquity of our fathers, for bwe have sinned against You.

21 Do not despise us, afor Your own name’s sake;

Do not disgrace the bthrone of Your glory;

Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the 1aidols of the nations who bgive rain?

Or can the heavens grant showers?

Is it not You, O Lord our God?

Therefore we 2chope in You,

For You are the one who has done all these things.

Chapter 15

Judgment Must Come

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even athough bMoses and cSamuel were to dstand before Me, My 1heart would not be 2with this people; esend them away from My presence and let them go!

2 “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those destined afor death, to death;

And those destined for the sword, to the sword;

And those destined for famine, to famine;

And those destined for captivity, to captivity.” ’

3 “I will aappoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the bdogs to drag off, and the cbirds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

4 “I will amake them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of bManasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 “Indeed, who will have apity on you, O Jerusalem,

Or who will bmourn for you,

Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 “You who have aforsaken Me,” declares the Lord,

“You keep bgoing backward.

So I will cstretch out My hand against you and destroy you;

I am dtired of relenting!

7 “I will awinnow them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will bbereave them of children, I will destroy My people;

cThey did not 1repent of their ways.

8 “Their awidows will be more numerous before Me

Than the sand of the seas;

I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,

A bdestroyer at noonday;

I will suddenly bring down on her

Anguish and dismay.

9 “She who abore seven sons pines away;

1Her breathing is labored.

Her bsun has set while it was yet day;

She has been cshamed and humiliated.

So I will dgive over their survivors to the sword

Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

10 aWoe to me, my mother, that you have borne me

As a bman of strife and a man of contention to all the land!

I have not clent, nor have men lent money to me,

Yet everyone curses me.

11 The Lord said, “Surely I will aset you free for purposes of good;

Surely I will cause the benemy to make supplication to you

In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

12 “Can anyone smash iron,

aIron from the north, or bronze?

13 “Your awealth and your treasures

I will give for booty bwithout cost,

Even for all your sins

And within all your borders.

14 “Then I will cause your enemies to bring 1it

Into a aland you do not know;

For a bfire has been kindled in My anger,

It will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

15 aYou who know, O Lord,

Remember me, take notice of me,

And btake vengeance for me on my persecutors.

Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;

Know that cfor Your sake I endure reproach.

16 Your words were found and I aate them,

And Your bwords became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;

For I have been ccalled by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

17 I adid not sit in the circle of merrymakers,

Nor did I exult.

Because of Your hand upon me I sat balone,

For You cfilled me with indignation.

18 Why has my pain been perpetual

And my awound incurable, refusing to be healed?

Will You indeed be to me blike a deceptive stream

With water that is unreliable?

19 Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“aIf you return, then I will restore you—

bBefore Me you will stand;

And cif you extract the precious from the worthless,

You will become 1My spokesman.

They for their part may turn to you,

But as for you, you must not turn to them.

20 “Then I will amake you to this people

A fortified wall of bronze;

And though they fight against you,

They will not prevail over you;

For bI am with you to save you

And deliver you,” declares the Lord.

21 “So I will adeliver you from the hand of the wicked,

And I will bredeem you from the 1grasp of the violent.”