Yahweh Will Not Listen to Their Cry
That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah in regard to the adrought:
2 “Judah mourns,
And aher gates languish;
They sit on the ground bin mourning,
And the coutcry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their mighty ones have asent their underlings for water;
They have come to the btrenches and found no water.
They have returned with their vessels empty;
They have been cput to shame and dishonored,
And they dcover their heads.
4 Because the aground is dismayed,
For there has been bno rain on the land,
The cfarmers have been put to shame;
They have covered their heads.
5 For even the doe in the field has given birth only to forsake her young
Because there is ano grass.
6 The awild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals;
Their eyes fail
For there is bno vegetation.
7 Although our ainiquities answer against us,
O Yahweh, act bfor Your name’s sake!
Truly our cacts of faithlessness have been many;
We have dsinned against You.
8 O aHope of Israel,
Its bSavior in ctime of distress,
Why are You like a sojourner in the land
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent to lodge for the night?
9 Why are You like a man confused,
Like a mighty man who acannot save?
Yet bYou are in our midst, O Yahweh,
And we are ccalled by Your name;
Do not leave us!”
10 Thus says Yahweh to this people, “Even so they have aloved to wander; they have not bkept their feet in check. Therefore Yahweh does cnot accept them; now He will dremember their iniquity and punish their sins.” 11 So Yahweh said to me, “aDo not pray for the good of this people. 12 When they fast, I am anot going to listen to their cry; and when they offer bburnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to cmake an end of them by the dsword, famine, and pestilence.”
Lying Prophets
13 But, “Ah, Lord Yahweh!” I said, “Behold, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You awill not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you true bpeace in this place.’” 14 Then Yahweh said to me, “The aprophets are prophesying lies in My name. bI have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a cvision of lies, divination, futility, and the deception of their own hearts. 15 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—aby that sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 The people also to whom they are prophesying will be athrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bbury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will cpour out their own evil on them.
17 And you will say this word to them,
‘aLet my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease,
For the virgin bdaughter of my people has been shattered with a mighty shattering,
With a sorely csick wound.
18 If I ago out to the field,
Behold, those slain with the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
Behold, diseases of famine!
For bboth prophet and priest
Have gone around as merchants in the land that they do not know.’”
19 Have You completely arejected Judah?
Or have You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that bthere is no healing for us?
We choped for peace, but there was no good;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
20 We aknow our wickedness, O Yahweh,
The iniquity of our fathers, for bwe have sinned against You.
21 Do not despise us, afor Your own name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the bthrone of Your glory;
Remember and do not break Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the aidols of the nations who bgive rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not You, O Yahweh our God?
Therefore we chope in You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.