Drought, Famine, Sword, and Plague
A word concerning drought shows Judah mourning, city gates languishing, and cries rising from Jerusalem as nobles send servants to empty cisterns. The ground is cracked, farmers are dismayed, and even the doe and wild donkeys suffer because the land has no grass or water.
T1his is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: 2“Judah mourns 3The nobles send their servants for water; 4The ground is cracked 5Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn 6Wild donkeys stand on barren heights;
A confession follows in which the people admit that their iniquities testify against them and appeal to the LORD as Israel's Hope and Savior. They ask why He seems like a stranger or helpless traveler when His name is upon them and they still look to Him.
7Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, 8O Hope of Israel, 9Why are You like a man taken by surprise,
The LORD answers that this people loves to wander and has not restrained its feet, so He now remembers their iniquity rather than accepting them. Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for their well-being, because fasting and offerings will not avert the sword, famine, and plague that are coming.
10This is what the LORD says about this people: 11Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. 12Although 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.”
When Jeremiah points to prophets promising lasting peace instead of famine or sword, the LORD declares that they speak lies from their own deluded minds. Those prophets and the people who trust them will perish together by the very sword and famine they denied, with no one left to bury the dead in Jerusalem's streets.
13“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.’” 14“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. 15Therefore 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.’ 16By 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.
Jeremiah is told to speak tears day and night over the crushing wound of the daughter of his people. Whether in field or city, the sight is the same: those struck down by sword and those sick from famine, while even prophet and priest wander in ignorance through the land.
17You are to speak this word to them: 18If I go out to the country,