Jeremiah 14
About JeremiahWritten by AI
Jeremiah is a book of prophecy from the final, painful decades of the kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah was a priest's son from Anathoth, called as a young man around 627 BC. He preached for about forty years, through the reigns of Josiah's sons, the Babylonian sieges, and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. His scribe Baruch helped write his words down.
The book is not in time order. Sermons, poems, personal laments, and stories are grouped by theme, so a chapter set under Jehoiakim may be followed by one from Zedekiah's reign. The opening verses of a chapter often tell you which king is on the throne, and it helps to watch for them.
The big movement is from warning to judgment to hope. Jeremiah calls a stubborn people back to God, suffers for it, and watches the city fall. Yet in the middle of the book God promises a new covenant, written on the heart. Watch also for Jeremiah's honest prayers of complaint, some of the rawest in Scripture.
Before you read Jeremiah 14Written by AI
A severe drought hits the land. Jeremiah prays for mercy and confesses the people's sin, but God tells him not to pray for them. Jeremiah protests that the prophets promised peace. God says those prophets were never sent. Watch the back and forth; it is a real argument in prayer.
Drought, Famine, Sword, and Plague
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 against us, 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 iniquity
and punish them for their sins.”
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 them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you 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 to you 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 them 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.’”
A Prayer for Mercy
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 against You.
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 in You,
for You have done all these things.