Because the ground is chapt Through the violent heat of the sun, and want of rain; or, is broken F25; and crumbles into dust. The Targum is,
``because of sins, the inhabitants of the earth are broken:''
for there was no rain in the earth; this was the reason of the dearth, and of the famine, and why there was no water in the pits, and the ground was parched. It is to be understood of the land of Judea only, not of the whole earth: the ploughmen were ashamed; because they could not work the earth with their plough; were obliged to sit still, could do no work, or go on with their husbandry; nothing could be done for want of rain: they covered their heads; as before; (See Gill on Jeremiah 14:3). FOOTNOTES:
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.
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.
4
For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon the earth, the husbandman were confounded, they covered their heads.
5
Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it, because there was no grass.
6
And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.