(This is) the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah - concerning ... the drought :
“ Judah mourns and her gates languish. (Her people) wail for the land , and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
The nobles send their servants for water ; they go to the cisterns , but find no water ; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated ; they cover their heads.
- The ground is cracked because no ... rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed ; they cover their heads.
Even ... the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
Wild donkeys stand on barren heights ; they pant for air like jackals ; their eyes fail for lack of pasture. ”
Although our iniquities testify O LORD , act for the sake of Your name. Indeed , our rebellions are many ; we have sinned against You.
O Hope of Israel , its Savior in times of distress , why are You like a stranger in the land , like a traveler who stays but a night ... ?
Why are You like a man taken by surprise , like a warrior powerless to save ? Yet You are among us , O LORD , and we are called by Your name. ... Do not forsake us !
This is what the LORD says about this people : “ Truly they love to wander ; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them ; He will now remember their guilt and call their sins to account .... ”
Then the LORD said to me , “ Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
Although they may fast , I will not listen to ... their cry ; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings , I will not accept them. Instead , I will finish them off - by sword and famine and plague.”
“ Ah , Lord GOD ! ” I replied , “ Look , the prophets are telling ‘ You will not see the sword or suffer famine , ... but I will give lasting peace in this place. ’”
“ The prophets are prophesying lies in My name , ” replied the LORD . “ I did not send them (or) appoint them (or) speak to them. They are prophesying a false vision , a worthless divination , the futility and delusion of their own minds.
Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name : I did not send them , yet they say , ‘ No sword or famine will touch this land. ’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end !
And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury or their wives , their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them -.
You are to speak this word to them : - ‘ My eyes overflow with tears ; day and night they do not cease , for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow , a severely grievous wound.
If I go out to the country , I see those slain by the sword ; if I enter the city , I see those ravaged by famine ! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know. ’”
Have You rejected - Judah completely ? ... Do You despise Zion ? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing ? We hoped for peace , but no good has come , and for the time of healing , but there was only terror.
We acknowledge our wickedness , O LORD , the guilt of our fathers ; indeed , we have sinned
For the sake of Your name do not despise us ; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us ; do not break it.
Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain ? - Do the skies alone send showers ? Is this not by You ... , O LORD our God ? So we put our hope for You have done - all these things.