Jeremiah 14

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

1That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the adrought: 2Judah mourns
And bher gates languish;
They sit on the ground cin mourning,
And the dcry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3Their nobles have esent their
Lit little ones
servants for water;
They have come to the gcisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their vessels empty;
They have been hput to shame and humiliated,
And they icover their heads.
4Because the jground is
Lit shattered
cracked,
For there has been lno rain on the land;
The mfarmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
5For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is nno grass.
6“The owild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
For there is pno vegetation.
7Although our qiniquities testify against us,
O Lord, act rfor Your name’s sake!
Truly our sapostasies have been many,
We have tsinned against You.
8“O uHope of Israel,
Its vSavior in wtime of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
9Why are You like a man dismayed,
Like a mighty man who xcannot save?
Yet yYou are in our midst, O Lord,
And we are zcalled by Your name;
Do not forsake us!”

10Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have aaloved to wander; they have not abkept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does acnot accept them; now He will adremember their iniquity and call their sins to account.” 11So the Lord said to me, aeDo not pray for the welfare of this people. 12When they fast, I am afnot going to listen to their cry; and when they offer agburnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to ahmake an end of them by the aisword, famine and pestilence.”

False Prophets

13But, “Ah, Lord
Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You akwill not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you
Lit peace of truth
lasting ampeace in this place.’”
14Then the Lord said to me, “The anprophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. aoI have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a apfalse vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own
Lit hearts
minds.
15Therefore 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’— arby sword and famine those prophets shall
Lit be finished
meet their end!
16The people also to whom they are prophesying will be atthrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to aubury them— neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters— for I will avpour out their own wickedness on them. 17You will say this word to them,
awLet my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin axdaughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely ayinfected wound.
18If I azgo out to the country,
Behold, those
Lit pierced
slain with the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
Behold, diseases of famine!
For bbboth prophet and priest
Have
Or gone around trading
gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’”

19Have You completely bdrejected Judah?
Or have
Lit Your soul
You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we bfare beyond healing?
We bgwaited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
20We bhknow our wickedness, O Lord,
The iniquity of our fathers, for biwe have sinned against You.
21Do not despise us, bjfor Your own name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the bkthrone of Your glory;
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
22Are there any among the
Lit vanities
,
bmidols of the nations who bngive rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, O Lord our God?
Therefore we
Or wait for
,
bphope in You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.

Copyright information for NASB1995