Jeremiah 14:4

4 Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

Jeremiah 14:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 14:4

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).

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (htx) "confracta", Schmidt; "attritam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Jeremiah 14:4 In-Context

2 "Judah is in mourning; its cities are dying, its people lie on the ground in sorrow, and Jerusalem cries out for help.

3 The rich people send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; they come back with their jars empty. Discouraged and confused, they hide their faces.

4 Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

5 In the field the mother deer abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

6 The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals; their eyesight fails them because they have no food.