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.