Jeremiah 14:3

3 "Their nobles have ¹sent their servants for water; They have come to the ²cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their vessels empty; They have been ³put to shame and humiliated, And they ⁴cover their heads.

Jeremiah 14:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 14:3

And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters,
&c.] To places where water used to be; to the pools, the upper and the lower, particularly to the fountain of Shiloah, which, Jerom says, was the only one the city of Jerusalem used. The meaning either is, that the nobles in Jerusalem sent their own children to get water for them, they having no servants to attend them, these being put away because they could not support them, the famine being so sore; or rather that they sent their menial servants, their subjects, as the Targum renders it, to fetch them a little water to refresh themselves with: they came to the pits and found no water;
their servants came according to order to the pools and cisterns, or to the deep wells, and to such places where there used to be a great confluence of water, and plenty of it, but now they could find none: they returned with their vessels empty;
just as they came: they were ashamed and confounded;
either the servants that were sent, or rather their masters that sent them, when they saw them come with their empty vessels; having been looking out and longing for their return, expecting they would have brought water with them for their refreshment; but to their great disappointment and confusion brought none: and covered their heads;
as persons ashamed, or as mourners used to do, being full of anguish and distress because of the drought.

Jeremiah 14:3 In-Context

1 That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in regard to the drought:

2 "Judah mourns And her gates languish; They sit on the ground in mourning, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.

3 "Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their vessels empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads.

4 "Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land; The farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads.

5 "For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 18:5
• 2. 2 Kings 18:31; Jeremiah 2:13
• 3. Job 6:20; Psalms 40:14
• 4. 2 Samuel 15:30

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "little ones"