Jeremiah 14:4

4 All the farm work has stopped. Not a drop of rain has fallen. The farmers don't know what to do. They wring their hands, they shake their heads.

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 weeps, her cities mourn. The people fall to the ground, moaning, while sounds of Jerusalem's sobs rise up, up.

3 The rich people sent their servants for water. They went to the cisterns, but the cisterns were dry. They came back with empty buckets, wringing their hands, shaking their heads.

4 All the farm work has stopped. Not a drop of rain has fallen. The farmers don't know what to do. They wring their hands, they shake their heads.

5 Even the doe abandons her fawn in the field because there is no grass -

6 Eyes glazed over, on her last legs, nothing but skin and bones."