A grievous famine: and the prophet’s prayer on that occasion. Evils
denounced to false prophets. The prophet mourns for his people.
14:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias concerning the words
of the drought.
14:2. Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are
become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
14:3. The great ones sent their inferiors to the water: they came to
draw, they found no water, they carried back their vessels empty: they
were confounded and afflicted, and covered their heads.
14:4. For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon
the earth, the husbandmen were confounded, they covered their heads.
14:5. Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it,
because there was no grass.
14:6. And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind
like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
14:7. If our iniquities have testified against us, O Lord, do thou it
for thy name’s sake, for our rebellions are many, we have sinned
against thee.
14:8. O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble:
why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
turning in to lodge?
14:9. Why wilt thou be as a wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot
save? but thou, O Lord, art among us, and thy name is called upon by
us, forsake us not.
14:10. Thus saith the Lord to this people, that have loved to move
their feet, and have not rested, and have not pleased the Lord: He will
now remember their iniquities, and visit their sins.
14:11. And the Lord said to me: Pray not for this people for their
good.
14:12. When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer
holocausts and victims, I will not receive them: for I will consume
them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence.
14:13. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them:
You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you,
but he will give you true peace in this place.
14:14. And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my
name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken
to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and
deceit, and the seduction of their own heart.
14:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that
prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, that say: Sword and famine
shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be
consumed.
14:16. And the people to whom they prophesy, shall be cast out in the
streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there
shall be none to bury them: they and their wives, their sons and their
daughters, and I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.
14:17. And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down
tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin
daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an
exceeding grievous evil.
14:18. If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword:
and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with
famine. The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they
knew not.
14:19. Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred
Sion? why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us?
we have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of
healing, and behold trouble.
14:20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our
fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
14:21. Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name’s sake, and do not
disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy
covenant with us.
14:22. Are there any among the graven things of the Gentiles that can
send rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou the Lord our
God, whom we have looked for? for thou hast made all these things.