Jeremias 14:2-12

2 Judea has mourned, and her gates are emptied, and are darkened upon the earth; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

3 And her nobles have sent their little ones to the water: they came to the wells, and found no water: and brought back their vessels empty.

4 And the labours of the land failed, because there was no rain: the husbandmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

5 And hinds calved in the field, and forsook , because there was no grass.

6 The wild asses stood by the forests, and snuffed up the wind; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.

7 Our sins have risen up against us: O Lord, do thou for us for thine own sake; for our sins are many before thee; for we have sinned against thee.

8 O Lord, the hope of Israel, and deliverest in time of troubles; why art thou become as a sojourner upon the land, or as one born in the land, yet turning aside for a resting-place?

9 Wilt thou be as a man asleep, or as a man that cannot save? yet thou art among us, O Lord, and thy name is called upon us; forget us not.

10 Thus saith the Lord to this people, They have loved to wander, and they have not spared, therefore God has not prospered them; now will he remember their iniquity.

11 And the Lord said to me, Pray not for this people for good:

12 for though they fast, I will not hear their supplication; and though they offer whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, I will take no pleasure in them: for I will consume them with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence.

Jeremias 14:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 14

This chapter contains prophecy of a drought, which produced a famine, Jer 14:1, and is described by the dismal effects of it; and general distress in the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 14:2, even the nobles were affected with it, whose servants returned without water ashamed, when sent for it, Jer 14:3, the ploughmen could not use their plough, their ground was so hard, Jer 14:4 and the very beasts of the field suffered much, because there was no grass, Jer 14:5,6, upon this follows a prayer of the prophet to the Lord, that he would give rain for his name's sake; he confesses the sins of the people, that they were many, and against the Lord; and testified against them, that they deserved to be used as they were; and he addresses the Lord as the hope and Saviour of his people in time past, when it was a time of trouble with them; and expostulates with him, why he should be as a stranger and traveller, and like a mighty man astonished, that either had no regard to their land any more than a foreigner and a traveller; or no heart to help them, or exert his power, than a man at his wits' end, though he was among them, and they were called by his name; and therefore he begs he would not leave them, Jer 14:7-9, but he is told that it was for the sins of the people that all this was, which the Lord was determined to remember and visit; and therefore he is bid not to pray for them; if he did, it would not be regarded, nor the people's fasting and prayers also; for they should be consumed by the sword, famine, and pestilence, Jer 14:10-12, and though the prophet pleads, in excuse of the people, that the false prophets had deceived them; yet not only the vanity and falsehood of their prophecies are exposed, and they are threatened with destruction, but the people also, for hearkening unto them, Jer 14:13-16, wherefore the prophet, instead of putting up a prayer for them, has a lamentation dictated to him by the Lord, which he is ordered to express, Jer 14:17,18, and yet, notwithstanding this, he goes on to pray for them in a very pathetic manner; he expostulates with God, and pleads for help and healing; confesses the iniquities of the people; entreats the Lord, for the sake of his name, glory, and covenant, that he would not reject them and his petition; and observes, that the thing asked for (rain) was what none of the gods of the Heathens could give, or even the heavens themselves, only the Lord; and therefore determines to wait upon him for it, who made the heavens, the earth, and rain, Jer 14:19-22.