Jeremiah 14:1-15:9

English Standard Version

Famine, Sword, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning ^(A)the drought:

²^(B)“Judah mourns,
    and ^(C)her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
    and ^(D)the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
³Her nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty;
they are ^(E)ashamed and confounded
    and ^(F)cover their heads.
⁴Because of the ground that is dismayed,
    since there is ^(G)no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
    they cover their heads.
⁵Even ^(H)the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
⁶^(I)The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no vegetation.

⁷“Though our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O Lord, ^(J)for your name's sake;
^(K)for our backslidings are many;
    ^(L)we have sinned against you.
⁸^(M)O you hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should you be like a man confused,
    ^(N)like a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet ^(O)you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
    and ^(P)we are called by your name;
    ^(Q)do not leave us.”

¹⁰Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
“They have loved to wander thus;
    they have not restrained their feet;
^(R)therefore the Lord does not accept them;
    ^(S)now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.”

¹¹The Lord said to me: ^(T)“Do not pray for the welfare of this people. ¹²Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, ^(U)and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them ^(V)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

Lying Prophets

¹³Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets ^(W)say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” ¹⁴And the Lord said to me: “The ^(X)prophets are prophesying lies in my name. ^(Y)I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, ^(Z)worthless divination, and ^(AA)the deceit of their own minds. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although ^(AB)I did not send them, and who say, ^(AC)‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: ^(AD)By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, ^(AE)with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.

¹⁷“You shall say to them this word:
^(AF)‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
    and let them not cease,
for the virgin ^(AG)daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
    ^(AH)with a very grievous blow.
¹⁸^(AI)If I go out into the field,
    behold, those pierced by the sword!
^(AJ)And if I enter the city,
    behold, the diseases of famine!
^(AK)For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land
    and have no knowledge.’”

¹⁹^(AL)Have you utterly rejected Judah?
    Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
    ^(AM)so that there is no healing for us?
^(AN)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    ^(AO)for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
²⁰^(AP)We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
    and the iniquity of our fathers,
    ^(AQ)for we have sinned against you.
²¹Do not spurn us, ^(AR)for your name's sake;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne;
    ^(AS)remember and do not break your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among ^(AT)the false gods of the nations ^(AU)that can bring rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
    We set our hope on you,
    ^(AV)for you do all these things.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(AW)“Though ^(AX)Moses ^(AY)and Samuel ^(AZ)stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! ²And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(BA)“‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are for the sword, to the sword;
those who are for famine, to famine,
and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

³^(BB)I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and ^(BC)the birds of the air ^(BD)and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴^(BE)And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what ^(BF)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵^(BG)“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    ^(BH)or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
⁶^(BI)You have rejected me, declares the Lord;
    ^(BJ)you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    ^(BK)I am weary of relenting.
⁷^(BL)I have winnowed them with ^(BM)a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    ^(BN)they did not turn from their ways.
⁸I have made their widows more in number
    than ^(BO)the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
    a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
    fall upon them suddenly.
⁹^(BP)She who bore seven has grown feeble;
    ^(BQ)she has fainted away;
^(BR)her sun went down while it was yet day;
    she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
    before their enemies,
declares the Lord.”