The Great Drought

14The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
²Judah mourns
   and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground,
   and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
³Her nobles send their servants for water;
   they come to the cisterns,
they find no water,
   they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed
   and cover their heads,
⁴because the ground is cracked.
   Because there has been no rain on the land
the farmers are dismayed;
   they cover their heads.
⁵Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
   because there is no grass.
⁶The wild asses stand on the bare heights,^*
   they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
   because there is no herbage.

⁷Although our iniquities testify against us,
   act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
our apostasies indeed are many,
   and we have sinned against you.
⁸O hope of Israel,
   its saviour in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
   like a traveller turning aside for the night?
⁹Why should you be like someone confused,
   like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
   and we are called by your name;
   do not forsake us!

¹⁷You shall say to them this word:
Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
   and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow,
   with a very grievous wound.
¹⁸If I go out into the field,
   look—those killed by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
   look—those sick with^* famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land,
   and have no knowledge.

The People Plead for Mercy

¹⁹Have you completely rejected Judah?
   Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
   so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace, but find no good;
   for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
   the iniquity of our ancestors,
   for we have sinned against you.
²¹Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
   do not dishonour your glorious throne;
   remember and do not break your covenant with us.
²²Can any idols of the nations bring rain?
   Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God?
   We set our hope on you,
   for it is you who do all this.