Jeremiah 14
14
Drought and False Prophets
1This is the Lord’s message to Jeremiah about the drought#14:1 drought A time when no rain falls and the crops become dry and die.:
2“The nation of Judah cries for people who have died.
The people in the cities of Judah grow weaker and weaker.
They lie on the ground.
People in Jerusalem, cry to God for help.
3The leaders of the people send their servants to get water.
The servants go to the water storage places,
but they don’t find any water.
The servants come back with empty jars,
so they are ashamed and embarrassed.
They cover their heads from shame.
4No one prepares the ground for crops.#14:4 No one … crops This follows the ancient Greek version. The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
No rain falls on the land.
The farmers are depressed.
So they cover their heads from shame.
5Even the mother deer in the field leaves her newborn baby alone,
because there is no grass.
6Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills.
They sniff the wind like jackals.
But their eyes cannot find any food,
because there are no plants to eat.
7“We know that this is our fault.
We are now suffering because of our sins.
Lord, do something to help us for the good of your name.
We admit that we have left you many times.
We have sinned against you.
8God, you are the hope of Israel!
You save Israel in times of trouble.
But now it seems like you are a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who only stays one night.
9You seem like a man who has been attacked by surprise,
like a soldier who does not have the power to save anyone.
But, Lord, you are with us.
We are called by your name, so don’t leave us without help!”
10This is what the Lord says about the people of Judah: “The people of Judah really love to leave me. They don’t stop themselves from leaving me. So now the Lord will not accept them. Now he will remember the evil they do. He will punish them for their sins.”
11Then the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, don’t pray for good things to happen to the people of Judah. 12They might begin to fast and pray to me, but I will not listen to their prayers. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. I will destroy the people of Judah with war. I will take away their food, and they will starve. And I will destroy them with terrible diseases.”
13But I said, “Lord GOD, the prophets were telling the people something different. They were telling the people of Judah, ‘You will not suffer from war or from hunger. The Lord will give you peace in this land.’”
14Then the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, those prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or command them or speak to them. Their prophecies came from false visions, worthless magic, and their own wishful thinking. 15So this is what I, the Lord, say about the prophets who are speaking in my name. I did not send them. They said, ‘No enemy will ever attack this country. There will never be hunger in this land.’ So those prophets will die from hunger or by an enemy’s sword. 16And the people they spoke to will be thrown into the streets. The people will die from hunger and war. I will punish them, and no one will be there to bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters.
17“Jeremiah, speak this message to the people of Judah:
‘My eyes fill with tears
night and day without stopping.
I cry for my virgin daughter,#14:17 virgin daughter Another name for Jerusalem. and for my dear people,
because someone hit them and crushed them.
They have been hurt very badly.
18If I go into the country,
I see the bodies of those killed in war.
If I go into the city,
I see people sick from hunger.
The priests and prophets continue their work,
but they don’t understand what is happening.’”
19Lord, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?
Do you hate Zion?
You hurt us so badly that we cannot be made well again.
Why did you do that?
We were hoping for peace,
but nothing good has come.
We were hoping for a time of healing,
but only terror came.
20Lord, we know that we are wicked.
We know that our ancestors did evil things.
Yes, we sinned against you.
21For the good of your name, don’t push us away.
Don’t take away the honor from your glorious throne.
Remember your agreement with us
and do not break it.
22Foreign idols don’t have the power to bring rain.
The sky does not have the power to send down showers of rain.
You, the Lord our God, are our only hope.
You are the one who made all these things.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 14
14
The Terrible Drought
1The LORD said to me concerning the drought,
2“Judah is in mourning;
its cities are dying,
its people lie on the ground in sorrow,
and Jerusalem cries out for help.
3The rich people send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns,
but find no water;
they come back with their jars empty.
Discouraged and confused,
they hide their faces.
4Because there is no rain
and the ground is dried up,
the farmers are sick at heart;
they hide their faces.
5In the field the mother deer
abandons her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
6The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops
and pant for breath like jackals;
their eyesight fails them
because they have no food.
7My people cry out to me,
‘Even though our sins accuse us,
help us, LORD, as you have promised.
We have turned away from you many times;
we have sinned against you.
8You are Israel's only hope;
you are the one who saves us from disaster.
Why are you like a stranger in our land,
like a traveller who stays for only one night?
9Why are you like someone taken by surprise,
like a soldier powerless to help?
Surely, LORD, you are with us!
We are your people;
do not abandon us.’ ”
10The LORD says about these people, “They love to run away from me, and they will not control themselves. So I am not pleased with them. I will remember the wrongs they have done and punish them because of their sins.”
11The LORD said to me, “Do not ask me to help these people. 12Even if they fast, I will not listen to their cry for help; and even if they offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. Instead, I will kill them in war and by starvation and disease.”
13Then I said, “Sovereign LORD, you know that the prophets are telling the people that there will be no war or starvation, because you have promised, they say, that there will be only peace in our land.”
14But the LORD replied, “The prophets are telling lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I give them any orders or speak one word to them. The visions they talk about have not come from me; their predictions are worthless things that they have imagined. 15I, the LORD, tell you what I am going to do to those prophets whom I did not send but who speak in my name and say war and starvation will not strike this land — I will kill them in war and by starvation. 16The people to whom they have said these things will be killed in the same way. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to all of them — including their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will make them pay for their wickedness.”
17The LORD commanded me to tell the people about my sorrow and to say:
“May my eyes flow with tears day and night,
may I never stop weeping,
for my people are deeply wounded
and are badly hurt.
18When I go out into the fields,
I see the bodies of men killed in war;
when I go into the towns,
I see people starving to death.
Prophets and priests carry on their work,
but they don't know what they are doing.”#14.18 Prophets… doing; or Prophets and priests have been dragged away to a land they know nothing about.
The People Plead with the LORD
19 LORD, have you completely rejected Judah?
Do you hate the people of Zion?
Why have you hurt us so badly
that we cannot be healed?
We looked for peace, but nothing good happened;
we hoped for healing, but terror came instead.
20We have sinned against you, LORD;
we confess our own sins
and the sins of our ancestors.
21Remember your promises and do not despise us;
do not bring disgrace on Jerusalem,
the place of your glorious throne.
Do not break the covenant you made with us.
22None of the idols of the nations can send rain;
the sky by itself cannot make showers fall.
We have put our hope in you, O LORD our God,
because you are the one who does these things.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.