125 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
125 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
The Drought
|
|
|
|
# Chapter 14
|
|
1. This is the word of the
|
|
Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
|
|
|
|
2. Judah mourns;
|
|
her city gates languish.
|
|
Her people are on the ground in mourning;
|
|
Jerusalem's cry rises up.
|
|
|
|
3. Their nobles send their servants for water.
|
|
They go to the cisterns;
|
|
they find no water;
|
|
their containers return empty.
|
|
They are ashamed and humiliated;
|
|
they cover their heads.
|
|
|
|
4. The ground is cracked
|
|
since no rain has fallen on the land.
|
|
The farmers are ashamed;
|
|
they cover their heads.
|
|
|
|
5. Even the doe in the field
|
|
gives birth and abandons her fawn
|
|
since there is no grass.
|
|
|
|
6. Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
|
|
panting for air like jackals.
|
|
|
|
Their eyes fail
|
|
because there are no green plants.
|
|
|
|
7. Though our iniquities testify against us,
|
|
Lord, act for your name's sake.
|
|
Indeed, our rebellions are many;
|
|
we have sinned against you.
|
|
|
|
8. Hope of Israel,
|
|
its Savior in time of distress,
|
|
why are you like a resident alien in the land,
|
|
like a traveler
|
|
stopping only for the night?
|
|
|
|
|
|
9. Why are you like a helpless man,
|
|
like a warrior unable to save?
|
|
Yet you are among us,
|
|
Lord,
|
|
and we bear your name.
|
|
Don't leave us!
|
|
|
|
10. This is what the
|
|
Lord says concerning these people:
|
|
Truly they love to wander;
|
|
they never rest their feet.
|
|
So the
|
|
Lord does not accept them.
|
|
|
|
Now he will remember their iniquity
|
|
and punish their sins.
|
|
|
|
False Prophets to Be Punished
|
|
|
|
|
|
11. Then the
|
|
Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of these people.
|
|
12. If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague."
|
|
|
|
13. And I replied, "Oh no,
|
|
Lord God! The prophets are telling them, 'You won't see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you lasting peace in this place.'"
|
|
|
|
14. But the
|
|
Lord said to me, "These prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.
|
|
|
|
15. "Therefore, this is what the
|
|
Lord says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, 'There will never be sword or famine in this land.' By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.
|
|
16. The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them--they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them."
|
|
Jeremiah's Request
|
|
|
|
|
|
17. You are to speak this word to them:
|
|
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
|
|
day and night may they not stop,
|
|
for my dearest people
|
|
have been destroyed by a crushing blow,
|
|
an extremely severe wound.
|
|
|
|
18. If I go out to the field,
|
|
look--those slain by the sword!
|
|
If I enter the city,
|
|
look--those ill from famine!
|
|
For both prophet and priest
|
|
travel to a land they do not know.
|
|
|
|
19. Have you completely rejected Judah?
|
|
Do you detest Zion?
|
|
Why do you strike us
|
|
with no hope of healing for us?
|
|
We hoped for peace,
|
|
but there was nothing good;
|
|
for a time of healing,
|
|
but there was only terror.
|
|
|
|
20. We acknowledge our wickedness,
|
|
Lord,
|
|
the iniquity of our ancestors;
|
|
indeed, we have sinned against you.
|
|
|
|
21. For your name's sake, don't despise us.
|
|
Don't disdain your glorious throne.
|
|
Remember your covenant with us;
|
|
do not break it.
|
|
|
|
22. Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
|
|
Or can the skies alone give showers?
|
|
Are you not the
|
|
Lord our God?
|
|
We therefore put our hope in you,
|
|
for you have done all these things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|