Jeremiah 14

Drought and a plea for help

1The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts: 2Judah mourns;
her gates languish.
They sink to the ground in mourning,
and Jerusalem’s cry rises. 3Her nobles send their servants for water.
They come to the cisterns and find none.
They return with empty jars,
ashamed and humiliated,
their heads covered. 4The ground is cracked,
for no rain has fallen on the land.
The farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads. 5Even a doe in the field gives birth
and abandons her fawn,
because there is no grass. 6Wild donkeys stand on the bare heights,
panting for air like jackals.
Their eyes fail
because there is no vegetation. 7Though our wrongs testify against us,
LORD, act for your name’s sake.
Our acts of turning away are many;
we have sinned against you. 8Hope of Israel,
its savior in time of trouble,
why are you like a resident foreigner in the land,
a traveler who turns aside for the night? 9Why are you like a stunned man,
a warrior unable to save?
Yet you are among us, LORD;
your name is called over us.
Do not abandon us!

Promises the LORD did not send

10This is what the LORD says about this people: “They love to wander like this; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and call their sins to account.”

11The LORD said to me, “Do not pray for this people’s good.

12When they fast, I will not hear their cry. When they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will bring them to an end by sword, famine, and plague.”

13I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword, and famine will not come upon you. I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

14The LORD said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, command them, or speak to them. What they prophesy to you is a lying vision, divination, emptiness, and the deceit of their own hearts.

15So this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them, who say, ‘Sword and famine will not come to this land’: By sword and famine those prophets will meet their end.

16The people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out in Jerusalem’s streets because of famine and sword. No one will bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters. I will pour their own evil upon them.

A lament and a plea

17Tell them this:
‘Let my eyes stream with tears
night and day, without stopping.
For my virgin daughter, my people,
is broken with a great fracture,
a terribly severe wound. 18If I go out into the field—look, those slain by the sword!
If I enter the city—look, those sick with hunger!
Prophet and priest alike
wander into a land they do not know.’” 19Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us
so that there is no healing for us?
We hoped for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but look—terror! 20We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD,
and the guilt of our ancestors;
we have sinned against you. 21For your name’s sake, do not spurn us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember; do not break
your covenant with us. 22Can the nations’ empty idols bring rain?
Can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, LORD our God?
We wait in hope for you,
for you have made all these things.