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Jeremiah 14

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The Great Drought 1–6

1
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. ​
2
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is 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 chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. ​
5
Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

Acknowledgment of Sin and Prayer for Mercy 7–9

7
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. ​
8
O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? ​
9
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

The LORD Rejects the People's Prayer 10–12

10
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. ​
11
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. ​
12
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. ​

Jeremiah Intercedes Regarding False Prophets 13–16

13
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. ​
14
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. ​
15
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets 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 none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them. ​

Jeremiah’s Lament and the People’s Final Plea 17–22

17
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not 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 them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
19
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou 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 thee.
21
Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. ​
22
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 14

Verse 1

concerning the dearth — Batstsoreth, drought, occurs only here and in Jer 17:8, where the man who trusts the LORD ‘shall not be careful in the year of drought’. Withheld rain is one of the covenant’s penalties: ‘thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass’ (Deut 28:23–24), and Jeremiah had already said ‘the showers have been withholden’ (Jer 3:3).

Verse 2

they are black unto the ground — Qadar, to be dark, is used of mourning, as in Jer 8:21, ‘I am black’. The gates languish as in Isa 3:26, ‘her gates shall lament and mourn’. The gate was where the city’s business and judgment were done, so its languishing means the city has stopped. ‘Cry’ (tsevachah) is a loud outcry.

Verse 3

covered their heads — The nobles send ‘their little ones’ for water and the pits are dry. Covering the head marks shame and grief, as with David on the Mount of Olives (2 Sam 15:30) and Haman (Esth 6:12). The empty pits recall Jer 2:13, ‘broken cisterns, that can hold no water’. The verb recurs in v.4.

Verse 4

the ground is chapt — ‘Chapt’ is the KJV’s old word for cracked; the verb (chathath) means broken or dismayed. ‘No rain’ (geshem) is the cause. The ploughmen (ikkar) cover their heads as the nobles did in v.3. Joel describes a like drought: ‘Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen’ (Joel 1:11).

Verse 7

for thy name’s sake — The first prayer owns the sin and then rests on the LORD’s own name, as David did (Ps 25:11). ‘Backslidings’ is meshuvah, turnings away, the word of Jer 3:22, ‘Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings’. Verses 20–21 repeat the prayer, and the LORD does not accept it (v.10).

Verse 8

the hope of Israel — Miqveh means hope and also a gathering of water: it is ‘the gathering together of the waters’ in Gen 1:10. In a drought the word carries both senses, and Jer 17:13 sets it beside ‘the fountain of living waters’. The complaint is that he acts like a ger, a sojourner who stops for a night.

Verse 10

loved to wander — Nua, to stray or stagger. Their feet were not held back, the opposite of Ps 119:101, ‘I have refrained my feet from every evil way’. ‘Accept’ is ratsah, the verb for a sacrifice being received (Amos 5:22). ‘He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins’ is said of Israel in Hos 8:13.

Verse 11

Pray not for this people — The command is given in Jer 7:16, 11:14 and here, and Jer 15:1 adds, ‘Though Moses and Samuel stood before me’. It follows the prayer of vv.7–9 and the verdict of v.10, and ‘for their good’ shows what intercession would be asking for.

Verse 12

When they fast — Fasting, burnt offering and minchah (the grain offering) are all refused, as ‘burnt offerings are not acceptable’ in Jer 6:20. The cry ‘not heard’ is what Prov 1:28 says of those who call too late: ‘Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer’. The threefold sentence, sword, famine and pestilence, runs through Jeremiah (21:7, 9; 24:10).

Verse 13

Ah, Lord GOD! — The same cry is Jeremiah’s reply at his call (Jer 1:6) and in Jer 4:10. ‘Assured peace’ is literally ‘peace of truth’ (shalom emeth), the peace the prophets promised: ‘Peace, peace; when there is no peace’ (Jer 6:14). The promise contradicts the LORD’s word of sword and famine.

Verse 14

prophesy lies in my name — Both ‘lies’ and ‘false’ are the one word sheqer. The test of Deut 18:20 is that a prophet speaks only what the LORD has commanded. ‘Thing of nought’ is elil, the word for idols in Lev 19:4, and ‘deceit’ (tarmith) occurs again in Jer 23:26, ‘they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart’.

Verse 15

By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed — The prophets who said ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’ die by them. In Jer 28:15–17 Hananiah is told ‘The LORD hath not sent thee’ and ‘died the same year in the seventh month’, the plainest instance of the sentence carried out.

Verse 16

they shall have none to bury them — Those who believed the prophets are ‘cast out in the streets’, their dead unburied, as in Jer 7:33, ‘the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven’. ‘Pour’ (shaphak) pictures the wickedness poured back on them, as Prov 1:31 says: ‘eat of the fruit of their own way’.

Verse 17

Let mine eyes run down with tears — The prophet is told to say this word to the people as his own lament, as in Jer 9:1, ‘Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears’. ‘Virgin daughter of my people’ is the nation as a whole, ‘broken with a great breach’ (sheber), the word for a fracture.

Verse 19

Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? — Maas, to reject, is the verb of Lev 26:44, ‘I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them’; ‘lothed’ (gaal) is the verb of Lev 26:11, ‘my soul shall not abhor you’. ‘We looked for peace, and there is no good’ echoes Jer 8:15, ‘We looked for peace, but no good came’.

Verse 21

break not thy covenant with us — The prayer takes up the promise of Lev 26:44, where the LORD said he would not ‘abhor them… to break my covenant with them’; parar, ‘break’, is the same verb. ‘The throne of thy glory’ is Jerusalem, which will be called ‘the throne of the LORD’ (Jer 3:17). ‘For thy name’s sake’ answers v.7.

Verse 22

the vanities of the Gentiles — Hebel, a breath or nothing, is the word for idols in Deut 32:21. Only the LORD gives rain: ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter’ (Jer 5:24; cf. Ps 135:7). ‘Wait’ is qavah, the verb of ‘we looked for peace’ in v.19, now turned from a complaint into trust.