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
Judah mourns; its gates fall apart. The people of Judah sit in mourning on the ground. Their cry goes up from Jerusalem.
3
Important people send their assistants out for water. They go to the cisterns, but they don't find any water. They come back with their containers empty. They cover their heads, because they are ashamed and disgraced.
4
The ground is cracked because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers are disappointed. They cover their heads.
5
Even deer in the fields give birth and abandon their young because there's no grass.
6
Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills. They sniff the air like jackals. Their eyesight fails because they have no green plants.