The grievous famine, 1-6; causes Jeremiah to pray, 7-9. The Lord will not be entreated for the people, 10-12. Lying prophets are no excuse for them, 13-16. Jeremiah is moved to complain for them, 17-22.
1 [The word from the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.]
2 "Judah mourns, and her gates languish./
They are black to the ground./
And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters./
They came to the pits and found no water./
They returned with their vessels empty./
They were ashamed and confounded/
and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is cracked,/
for there was no rain on the earth,/
the plowmen were ashamed,/
they covered their heads.
5 Even the doe also brought forth in the field and forsook it/
because there was no grass.
6 And the wild donkeys stood in the high places,/
they snuffed up the wind like jackals./
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us,/
do it for your name's sake,/
for our backslidings are many./
We have sinned against you.
8 O the hope of Israel,/
his Savior in time of trouble,/
why should you be as a stranger in the land/
and as a way-faring man/
who turns aside to stay for a night?
9 Why should you be as a man astonished,/
as a mighty man who cannot save?/
Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us,/
and we are called by your name./
Do not leave us."
10 Thus says the LORD to this people:/
"Thus they have loved to wander,/
they have not restrained their feet;/
therefore, the LORD does not accept them./
He will now remember their iniquity/
and visit their sins."
11 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people for their good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer a burnt-offering and an oblation, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."
13 Then I said, "Ah Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'" 14 Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you false visions, divinations, predictions, and deceits of their heart. 15 Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land': 'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they shall have no one to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness upon them.'
17 "Therefore, you shall say this word to them:/
'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,/
and do not let them cease,/
for the virgin daughter of my people is broken/
with a great breach,/
with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth into the field,/
then behold the slain with the sword!/
And if I enter into the city,/
then behold those who are sick with famine!/
Even both the prophet and the priest/
have gone into a land that they do not know.'"
19 Have you utterly rejected Judah?/
Has your soul loathed Zion?/
Why have you smitten us,/
and there is no healing for us?/
We looked for peace, and there is no good,/
and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness/
and the iniquity of our fathers,/
for we have sinned against you.
21 Do not abhor us for your name's sake./
Do not disgrace the throne of your glory./
Remember, do not break your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles/
who can cause rain?/
Or can the heavens give showers?/
Are you not he, O LORD our God?/
Therefore, we will wait upon you,/
for you have made all these things.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Jeremiah, Chapter 14[➚]