Jeremiah 14

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.