Jeremiah 14:1-12

Famine, Sword, and Pestilence

1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning ¹the drought:

2 ²"Judah mourns, and ³her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and ⁴the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3 Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns; they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ⁵ashamed and confounded and ⁶cover their heads.

4 Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is ⁷no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

5 Even ⁸the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

6 ⁹The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.

7 "Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, ¹⁰for your name's sake; ¹¹for our backslidings are many; ¹²we have sinned against you.

8 ¹³O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?

9 Why should you be like a man confused, ¹⁴like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet ¹⁵you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and ¹⁶we are called by your name; ¹⁷do not leave us."

10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people: "They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; ¹⁸therefore the LORD does not accept them; ¹⁹now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."

11 The LORD said to me: ²⁰"Do not pray for the welfare of this people.

12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, ²¹and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them ²²by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

Jeremiah 14:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 14

This chapter contains prophecy of a drought, which produced a famine, Jer 14:1, and is described by the dismal effects of it; and general distress in the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 14:2, even the nobles were affected with it, whose servants returned without water ashamed, when sent for it, Jer 14:3, the ploughmen could not use their plough, their ground was so hard, Jer 14:4 and the very beasts of the field suffered much, because there was no grass, Jer 14:5,6, upon this follows a prayer of the prophet to the Lord, that he would give rain for his name's sake; he confesses the sins of the people, that they were many, and against the Lord; and testified against them, that they deserved to be used as they were; and he addresses the Lord as the hope and Saviour of his people in time past, when it was a time of trouble with them; and expostulates with him, why he should be as a stranger and traveller, and like a mighty man astonished, that either had no regard to their land any more than a foreigner and a traveller; or no heart to help them, or exert his power, than a man at his wits' end, though he was among them, and they were called by his name; and therefore he begs he would not leave them, Jer 14:7-9, but he is told that it was for the sins of the people that all this was, which the Lord was determined to remember and visit; and therefore he is bid not to pray for them; if he did, it would not be regarded, nor the people's fasting and prayers also; for they should be consumed by the sword, famine, and pestilence, Jer 14:10-12, and though the prophet pleads, in excuse of the people, that the false prophets had deceived them; yet not only the vanity and falsehood of their prophecies are exposed, and they are threatened with destruction, but the people also, for hearkening unto them, Jer 14:13-16, wherefore the prophet, instead of putting up a prayer for them, has a lamentation dictated to him by the Lord, which he is ordered to express, Jer 14:17,18, and yet, notwithstanding this, he goes on to pray for them in a very pathetic manner; he expostulates with God, and pleads for help and healing; confesses the iniquities of the people; entreats the Lord, for the sake of his name, glory, and covenant, that he would not reject them and his petition; and observes, that the thing asked for (rain) was what none of the gods of the Heathens could give, or even the heavens themselves, only the Lord; and therefore determines to wait upon him for it, who made the heavens, the earth, and rain, Jer 14:19-22.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 17:8
• 2. Lamentations 1:4
• 3. Isaiah 3:26; [Lamentations 2:8]
• 4. [1 Samuel 5:12]
• 5. Psalms 40:14
• 6. [2 Samuel 15:30]
• 7. Jeremiah 3:3
• 8. Job 39:1; Psalms 29:9
• 9. Jeremiah 2:24
• 10. ver. 21; Psalms 25:11
• 11. Jeremiah 2:19
• 12. ver. 20
• 13. Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7; Psalms 71:5
• 14. [Isaiah 59:1]
• 15. [Exodus 29:45]
• 16. Daniel 9:18; [Ephesians 3:15]
• 17. Psalms 119:121
• 18. Hosea 8:13
• 19. Hosea 9:9
• 20. See Jeremiah 7:16
• 21. Proverbs 1:28; Isaiah 1:15; Ezekiel 8:18; Micah 3:4; See Jeremiah 6:20
• 22. Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 24:10; Jeremiah 32:24; Ezekiel 14:21