Jeremías 14:7-17

7 Aunque nuestras iniquidades testifican contra nosotros, oh SEÑOR, obra por amor de tu nombre. En verdad han sido muchas nuestras apostasías, contra ti hemos pecado.

8 Tú, esperanza de Israel, Salvador suyo en tiempo de angustia, ¿por qué has de ser como forastero en la tierra, o como caminante que ha plantado su tienda para pasar la noche?

9 ¿Por qué has de ser como hombre desalentado, como guerrero incapaz de salvar? Sin embargo tú estás en medio nuestro, oh SEÑOR, y por tu nombre somos llamados; ¡no nos abandones!

10 Así dice el SEÑOR de este pueblo: ¡Cómo les ha gustado vagar! No han refrenado sus pies. El SEÑOR, pues, no los acepta; ahora se acordará El de su iniquidad y castigará sus pecados.

11 Y el SEÑOR me dijo: No ruegues por el bienestar de este pueblo.

12 Cuando ayunen, no escucharé su clamor; cuando ofrezcan holocausto y ofrenda de cereal, no los aceptaré; sino que con espada, con hambre y con pestilencia los destruiré.

13 Y yo dije: ¡Ah, Señor DIOS! He aquí, los profetas les dicen: "No veréis espada ni tendréis hambre, sino que os daré paz verdadera en este lugar."

14 Entonces el SEÑOR me dijo: Mentira profetizan los profetas en mi nombre. Yo no los he enviado, ni les he dado órdenes, ni les he hablado; visión falsa, adivinación, vanidad y engaño de sus corazones ellos os profetizan.

15 Por tanto, así dice el SEÑOR: En cuanto a los profetas que profetizan en mi nombre sin que yo los haya enviado, y que dicen: "No habrá espada ni hambre en esta tierra", a espada y de hambre esos profetas perecerán.

16 También el pueblo a quien profetizan estará tirado por las calles de Jerusalén a causa del hambre y de la espada; no habrá quien los entierre a ellos, ni a sus mujeres, ni a sus hijos, ni a sus hijas, pues derramaré sobre ellos su maldad.

17 Y les dirás esta palabra: "Viertan lágrimas mis ojos noche y día, y no cesen, porque de gran quebranto ha sido quebrantada la virgen hija de mi pueblo, de una dolorosa herida muy grave.

Jeremías 14:7-17 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.