1 Y ahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

2 J udah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

3 T heir nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.

4 B ecause of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed, they cover their heads.

5 Y es, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

6 T he wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

7 T hough our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you.

8 Y ou hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

9 W hy should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name; don’t leave us.

10 Y ahweh says to this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

11 Y ahweh said to me, Don’t pray for this people for their good.

12 W hen they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

13 T hen I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! behold, the prophets tell them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

14 T hen Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

15 T herefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn’t send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

16 T he people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have no one to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them.

17 Y ou shall say this word to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

18 I f I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.

19 H ave you utterly rejected Judah? has your soul loathed Zion? why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

20 W e acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.

21 D o not abhor us, for your name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, don’t break your covenant with us.

22 A re there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.