¹This 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; ⁷Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, ⁸O Hope of Israel, ⁹Why are You like a man taken by surprise, 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.” 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. ¹⁷You are to speak this word to them: ¹⁸If I go out to the country,