Jeremiah 14–15

Chapter 14

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

¹That 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!”

¹⁰Thus 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.”

¹¹So 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

¹³But, “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.’ ”

¹⁴Then 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.’ ”

¹⁹Have 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!

²⁰We ^aknow our wickedness, O Lord,

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

²¹Do 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.

²²Are 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

¹Then 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.

^10aWoe 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.

¹¹The 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

^15aYou 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.

¹⁶Your 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.

¹⁷I ^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.

¹⁸Why 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?

¹⁹Therefore, 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.”