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
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the words of the drought.
2 "Judea has mourned. And its gates have fallen and become hard to discern on the ground. And the outcry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3 The greater ones have sent their lesser ones to the water. They went to draw water; they did not find water; they carried their vessels back empty. They were confounded and afflicted, and so they covered their heads.
4 Because of the devastation of the earth, because rain did not fall upon the earth, the farmers were confounded; they covered their heads.
5 For even the doe has given birth in the field, and then left it behind. For there was no grass.
6 And the wild donkeys stood upon the rocks; like dragons, they drew in the wind, but their eyes failed. For there was no grass."
7 "O Lord, if our iniquities have responded against us, let it be for the sake of your name. For our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you.
8 O Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of tribulation, why would you be like a sojourner in the land, and like a traveler turning aside for lodging?
9 Why would you be like a wandering man, like a strong man who is unable to save? But you, O Lord, are with us, and your name is invoked over us, so do not abandon us!"
10 Thus says the Lord to this people, who have loved to move their feet, and who have not rested, but who have not pleased the Lord: "Now he will remember their iniquities, and now he will visit against their sins."
11 And the Lord said to me: "Do not choose to pray for this people for good.
12 When they will fast, I will not heed their petitions. And if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not accept them. For I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence."
13 And I said: "Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! The prophets are saying to them: 'You will not see the sword, and there will be no famine among you. Instead, he will give you true peace in this place.' "
14 And the Lord said to me: "The prophets prophesy falsely in my name. I did not send them, and I did not instruct them, and I have not spoken to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, and a divination, and a fraud, and a seduction from their own heart.
15 For this reason, thus says the Lord about the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I have not sent, who say: 'Sword and famine will not be in this land.' By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed.
16 And the people, to whom they prophesy, will be cast into the streets of Jerusalem, due to famine and the sword, and there will be no one who may bury them, they and their wives, their sons and daughters, and I will pour out their own evil upon them.
17 And you shall speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed tears throughout the night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed by a great affliction, by a very grievous wound."
18 "If I go out into the fields: behold, those slain by the sword. And if I enter into the city: behold, those weakened by famine. Likewise, the prophet, too, and the priest, have gone into a land that they did not know.
19 Could you have utterly cast out Judah? Or has your soul abhorred Zion? Then why have you struck us, so much so that there is no health for us? We have waited for peace, but there is nothing good, and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble.
20 O Lord, we acknowledge our impieties, the iniquities of our fathers, that we have sinned against you.
21 For the sake of your name, do not give us over into disgrace. And do not dishonor in us the throne of your glory. Remember, do not make void, your covenant with us.
22 Could any of the graven images of the Gentiles send rain? Or are the heavens able to give showers? Have we not hoped in you, the Lord our God? For you have made all these things."
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