Jeremiah 14:3

3 Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering 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 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah when there was no water.

2 Judah is weeping and its doors are dark with sorrow, and people are seated on the earth clothed in black; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

3 Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering their heads.

4 Those who do work on the land are in fear, for there has been no rain on the land, and the farmers are shamed, covering their heads.

5 And the roe, giving birth in the field, lets her young one be uncared for, because there is no grass.