Jeremiah 14
14
The Terrible Drought
1This is what Yahweh spoke to me concerning the drought: # 14:1 This begins Jeremiah’s fifth sermon, a section of his prophecies stretching from 14:1 to 15:9 that pleaded with and warned God’s people. The cause of the drought was the sinful behavior of God’s people and their rebellious unbelief.
2“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.
3The 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.
4Since there has been no rain,
the ground is dry and cracked at harvest season,
and the farmers hang their heads in humiliation.
5Because there is no grass,
even the doe in the field
forsakes her newborn fawn.
6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights,
Panting for air like jackals;
their eyes are glazed over
because there is no pasture.”
A Cry for Help
7Our guilty sins cry out against us; # 14:7 Jeremiah identified with the sins of his people and wept as he preached the message of repentance to them.
in our rebellion, time and time again,
we have sinned against you.
Yahweh, do something to help us,
for the sake of your honor.
8O 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?
9You 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!
Jeremiah Instructed Not to Intercede
10Then 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.”
11And Yahweh said to me, “Don’t intercede on behalf of these people! # 14:11 This is the third time God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people (see 7:16; 11:14). Prayer (intercession) delays judgment. God was telling Jeremiah that judgment must fall upon a rebellious people, and he told Jeremiah not to pray but to keep on preaching. Preaching hastens judgment, for it brings greater light and responsibility to the hearers (see Matt. 11:20–24; Luke 12:42–48; John 15:22; 2 Peter 2:20–22). 12They 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.” # 14:12 These three disasters were part of the curse that Israel brought on herself by breaking covenant with Yahweh (see Lev. 26:23–26). Jeremiah mentioned “war, food shortages, and plague” repeatedly in his book as judgment from God (see Jer. 21:7, 9; 24:10; 27:8, 13; 28:8; 29:17–18; 32:24, 36; 34:17; 38:2; 42:17, 22; 44:13).
False Prophets Will Be Judged
13I 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.’ ”
14Then Yahweh replied: “The prophets are using my name to lie to the people. I’ve not sent them or commissioned them. I’ve not spoken a word to them. They prophesy false promises # 14:14 Or “lying [false] visions.” and speak of an imaginary future—things they have made up in their minds. 15This is what I, Yahweh, am going to do to those lying prophets. They claim to speak in my name although I did not send them, and they say that there will be no war or food shortages in this land. Therefore, it is by war and food shortages that I will kill them. 16And those who foolishly believed these prophecies will meet the same end. They will all die from war and food shortages, along with their wives and sons and daughters. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, with no one to bury them. For I will bring evil to them as they have been evil.”
Jeremiah’s Sorrow
17“So, Jeremiah, speak your message of sorrow over them:
“ ‘My eyes gush with tears day and night.
I can’t stop weeping over all that my people have suffered.
For my beloved people have suffered a great wound
and are left grievously injured. # 14:17 At least one Jewish sage viewed this verse as being spoken, not by Jeremiah, but by Yahweh, whose heart is deeply moved with love for his people. “Rabbi Tanhuma the Great preached as follows: ‘And do you speak to them thus: Let my eyes run with tears, day and night let them not cease’ (Jeremiah 14:17)—now the text was not explicit as to whether it was the prophet who said ‘let my eyes run with tears’ or not. But since it goes on to say ‘day and night let them not cease,’ and since flesh and blood cannot cry day and night, we must conclude that the verse speaks of the weeping of the Holy and Blessed One, who alone does not sleep” (Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations [London: A&C Black, 2005], 117).
They are as precious to me as a young daughter. # 14:17 Or “the virgin daughter of my people.” This is an idiom denoting great affection and love.
18If I go into the countryside—
there they lie, slain by the sword.
If I enter the city—
there they lie, sick and starving.
Both prophet and priest wander throughout the land,
with no revelation to share.’ ” # 14:18 The Hebrew text of this sentence is uncertain. The common interpretation is that “prophet and priest traveled about the country like a merchant selling their wares.” However, according to the Jewish sage Rashi, it is perhaps “prophets and priests have wandered as beggars to a land they do not know [been taken in exile].”
The People Question God
19Lord, have you completely rejected Judah?
Does your soul really despise Zion?
Why have you crushed us
so that we can’t be healed?
We longed for peace and happiness,
but nothing good ever came.
We longed for a time of healing,
and we find a time of terror instead.
20Yahweh, we acknowledge our wickedness before you—
we have sinned against you, just like our fathers did.
21For the sake of your great name, do not disown us;
do not dishonor Jerusalem, that glorious place from which you rule.
Don’t break your promise; remember your covenant with us.
22Can any of the false gods of foreign nations give us rain?
Can the skies by themselves give showers?
Only you can, O Yahweh, our God!
So, we place all our hope in you,
for only you accomplish all these things.
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Jeremiah 14: TPT
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