Jeremiah 14
God hammers Judah with drought
Drought dries the water supply
1Deep into a long drought, the LORD told Jeremiah to deliver this message:2
Work has stopped in cities all over Judah
Instead, folks are crying.
And grown men have dropped to the ground
As Jerusalem prays for help.
But the cistern [1] reservoirs are dirt dry.
Humiliated servants return with empty jars.
4Cracks tear into the parched ground
For there is no rain.
Farmers have lost hope.
5Even the deer abandon their young,
For the grasslands have died.
6Wild donkeys stand on the hills
Sniffing the air like starving jackals.
But their eyesight is already blurring
Because all the grazing fields are gone.
Judah begs God to help
7Our sins take the witness stand
And testify against us.
Please LORD, save us
And show everyone your power.
We turned our backs on you
Over and over.
The only one who can save us.
But you treat us like you’re a foreigner
On your way to somewhere else.
9You’re acting surprised by what has happened,
Or like a soldier ordered to stay out of it.
But you are here, LORD, with us.
The world knows us as your people.
So, don’t abandon us.
God refuses to save Judah
10The LORD says this:These people loved to walk away from me.
They always took the scenic route, dancing.
I do not welcome them back.
I remember what they did
And I’m going to hold them accountable for it.
Don’t ask me to help these people now. 12I know they’re fasting to show their remorse. But I’m not listening to their cries for help or their sacrifices of burnt offerings and grain to atone for their sins. I’m not going to accept them back with forgiveness. I’m going to kill them with swords, drought, and disease.
Jeremiah complains about lying prophets
13Then I said, “LORD God, other prophets are lying to the people. They’re saying, ‘Don’t worry about swords or the drought. You’re going to restore the peace in Judah.’”14The LORD told me this:
Those prophets are attributing their lies to me. I didn’t tell them to say that, or anything else. They’re making it all up and dishing it out like it’s the truth. It’s not. It’s just worthless. 15So here’s what I’m going to do to these prophets who assure everyone that they don’t need to worry about swords or drought. I’m going to kill them with swords and drought.
16And here’s what I’ll do to the people who listen to them. I’ll throw them out of their homes [2] and onto the streets, where swords and drought will end them. No one will bury them or their wives and children. This is how I’ll reward the evil things they’ve done. 17Tell them this for me:
I cry a river day and night.
It never stops flowing.
My people are crushed
And mortally wounded.
I see bodies dropped by swords.
In the cities
People are starving.
Prophets and priests play their parts
Without a script or a clue.
Jeremiah’s prayer
19Have you discarded Judah?
Do you hate Jerusalem?
Why have you mortally wounded us
And left us with no hope for healing?
We want peace
But find nothing remotely peaceful.
We want healing
Yet find nothing but terror.
And the guilt of our ancestors.
We have all sinned against you.
21Don’t reject us.
Show your power instead.
Don’t let this dishonor your reputation. [3]
And don’t break your contract [4] with us.
22Can idols send showers?
Can the sky, all by its lonely self, make it rain?
Aren’t you, LORD our God, the one who does that?
We’re putting our hope in you
Because you are the one who can do it all. [5]
Footnotes
A cistern was a storage pit to collect rainwater or water hauled from a spring or a stream. It was often chiseled out of stone and lined with waterproof plaster. The Hebrew word here can mean more than that, though: geb. It can mean: pit, well, cistern, and more.
If the drought hurts a family’s income, as it would for farmers and herders, they could lose their home to creditors.
This line reads like comedy. In a prayer, Jeremiah or whoever else may be praying is appealing to God’s pride and self-interest. As in, “You’re not just helping us, you’re saving your reputation. Because if we, your people, go down, you’re going to look like a wimp. In Jesus’s name, Amen.” And yes we know, Jeremiah lived 600 years before the birth of Jesus.
An odd thing to say since the people had already broken the agreement. The contract, or covenant, between God and the Jewish people was a two-way street. When Jews obeyed God, then God gave them protection and prosperity. On the flip side, the contract provided stern penalties for breach of contract—to the point of exile and the end of Israel as a nation (Deuteronomy 27—28).
But he won’t. In 586 BC, the nation will get overrun by Babylonian invaders from what is now Iraq. Jeremiah will survive because Babylonians will find out that he advised the king to surrender. He’ll end up in Egypt, forced to go there with other Jews fleeing Babylon’s revenge. A remnant of Jews left behind after the war assassinated the governor Babylon put in charge.
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