Jeremiah 14:1-13

This is what YAHWEH spoke to me concerning the drought: “Judah is weeping, and her doors are dark with discouragement. Her people sink to the ground in mourning; their cries of lament rise from Jerusalem. The elite send their servants for water, but when they come to the cisterns, they are bone dry. So, they return with their vessels empty. Humiliated, they cover their faces with shame. Since there has been no rain, the ground is dry and cracked at harvest season, and the farmers hang their heads in humiliation. Because there is no grass, even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn. The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, Panting for air like jackals; their eyes are glazed over because there is no pasture.” Our guilty sins cry out against us; in our rebellion, time and time again, we have sinned against you. YAHWEH, do something to help us, for the sake of your honor. O Hope of Israel, Our only deliverer in time of trouble, why do you act like some stranger in the land, like an uninterested traveler who stops only for the night? You are a mighty warrior! Why are you acting like a man overcome with weakness, like someone who can’t save us? Yet here you are, dwelling among us, YAHWEH. You’ve attached your name to us. Don’t leave us now! Then YAHWEH spoke to me concerning these people: “They love to go astray, and they find such pleasure in their wandering. Therefore, I no longer find pleasure in them. Now I will remember all the evil they have done and punish their sins.” And YAHWEH said to me, “Don’t intercede on behalf of these people! They can fast and pray all they want, but I still won’t listen to their cry. Neither will I accept their burnt offerings and meal offerings that they present to me. I will destroy them by war, food shortages, and plague.” I said, “But Lord YAHWEH! The prophets are prophesying: ‘You won’t experience war; neither will food shortages come upon you. God will protect you securely in this place.’ ”