Jeremiah
Chapter 14
1 The message from God that came to Jeremiah about the drought.
2 Judah is sad, its gates are weak; they look dark to the ground; and Jerusalem’s cry has risen.
3 Their leaders sent their young ones for water. They went to the wells and found no water. They came back with their containers empty. They felt shame and disappointment and hid their faces.
4 Because the ground is cracked, since there was no rain on the land, the farmers were embarrassed, and they covered their heads.
5 Yes, the female deer gave birth in the field and left her newborn because there was no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stood on the hills, they breathed in the wind like dragons; they went blind because there was no grass.
7 God, even though our sins speak against us, act for your name’s sake, because we have often turned away and have sinned against you.
8 God, the hope of Israel and its savior in times of trouble, why do you seem like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who just stops to stay for one night?
9 Why should you seem like a shocked man, like a strong man who can’t save? But you, God, are with us, and we carry your name; don’t leave us.
10 God says to these people, “They love to wander and have not stopped their feet, so God does not accept them; he will now remember their wrongs and punish their sins.”
11 Then God said to me, “Do not pray for the good of these people.”
12 When they go without food, I will not listen to their calls; when they make a burnt offering and gifts, I will not take them. Instead, I will destroy them with war, hunger, and disease.
13 Then I said, “Oh, God! Look, the prophets tell them, ‘You won’t see war or suffer from hunger; I will give you true peace in this place.’”
14 Then God said to me, “The prophets are telling lies using my name: I did not send them, nor did I tell them to speak, nor have I spoken to them: they are giving you fake visions, using magic, and telling worthless and deceitful things from their own minds.
15 So God says this about the prophets who say they speak for me, but I did not send them: They claim there will be no war or famine in this land, but it’s by war and famine that those prophets will be destroyed.
16 The people they tell prophecies to will be thrown onto the streets of Jerusalem because of hunger and war; no one will bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters: because I will bring their evil down on them.
17 Tell them this: Let my eyes cry tears day and night without stopping, for my people’s young daughter is deeply hurt by a terrible wound.
18 If I go out to the fields, I see those killed by the sword! If I go into the city, I see people suffering from hunger! Yes, both the prophet and the priest wander in a land they do not know.
19 Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you dislike Zion? Why have you hit us, and there’s no cure for us? We hoped for peace, but there’s nothing good; we waited for a time to heal, but instead, we found trouble!
20 We admit, God, our wrongs and our ancestors’ sins, for we have sinned against you.
21 Do not hate us, for the sake of your name, do not dishonor your glorious throne: remember, do not break your promise to us.
22 Do any of the false gods of other nations bring rain? Can the sky itself send down showers? Aren’t you the one, our God? So we will wait for you, for you created everything.