CHAPTER 14
“Judah
mourns
and her gates
languish.
Her people wail
for the land,
and a cry
goes up
from Jerusalem.
The nobles
send
their servants
for water;
they go
to
the cisterns,
but find
no
water
their jars
return
empty.
They are ashamed
and humiliated;
they cover
their heads.
The ground
is cracked
because
no
rain
has fallen on the land.
The farmers
are ashamed;
they cover
their heads.
Wild donkeys
stand
on
barren heights;
they pant
for air
like jackals;
their eyes
fail
for
lack
of pasture.”
Although
our iniquities
testify against us,
O LORD,
act
for the sake
of Your name.
Indeed,
our rebellions
are many;
we have sinned against You.
O Hope
of Israel,
its Savior
in times
of distress,
why
are You
like a stranger
in the land,
like a traveler
who stays but a night?
Why
are You
like a man
taken by surprise,
like a warrior
powerless
to save?
Yet You
are among us,
O LORD,
and we are called
by Your name.
Do not
forsake us!
This is what
the LORD
says
about this
people:
“Truly
they love
to wander;
they have not
restrained
their feet.
So the LORD
does not
accept them;
He will now
remember
their guilt
and call their sins to account.”
Although
they may fast,
I will not
listen to
their cry;
although
they may offer
burnt offerings
and grain offerings,
I will not
accept them.
Instead,
I
will finish them off
by sword
and famine
and plague.”
“Ah,
Lord
GOD!”
I replied,
“Look,
the prophets
are telling them,
‘You will not
see
the sword
or suffer
famine,
but
I will give
you
lasting
peace
in this
place.’”
“The prophets
are prophesying
lies
in My name,”
the LORD
replied.
“I did not
send them
or
appoint them
or
speak
to them.
They
are prophesying
to you
a false
vision,
a worthless divination,
the futility
and delusion
of their own minds.
Therefore,
this is what
the LORD
says
about
the prophets
who prophesy
in My name,
though I
did not
send them,
and who
say,
‘No
sword
or famine
will touch
this
land.’
By sword
and famine
these very
prophets
will meet their end!
And the people
to whom
they
prophesy
will be
thrown
into the streets
of Jerusalem
because of
famine
and sword.
There will be no
one to bury
them
or their
wives,
their sons
or their daughters.
I will pour out
their own evil
upon them.
You are to speak
this
word
to them:
“My eyes
overflow
with tears;
day
and night
they do not
cease,
for
the virgin
daughter
of my people
has been shattered
by a crushing
blow,
a severely
grievous
wound.
If
I go out
to the country,
I see
those slain
by the sword;
if
I enter
the city,
I see
those ravaged
by famine!
For
both
prophet
and
priest
travel
to
a land
they do not
know.”
Have You rejected
Judah
completely?
Do You
despise
Zion?
Why
have You stricken us
so that we are beyond
healing?
We hoped
for peace,
but no
good has come,
and for the time
of healing,
but there
was only terror.
We acknowledge
our wickedness,
O LORD,
the guilt
of our fathers;
indeed,
we have sinned
against You.
For the sake of
Your name
do not
despise us;
do not
disgrace
Your glorious
throne.
Remember
Your covenant
with us;
do not
break it.
Can
the worthless idols
of the nations
bring rain?
Do the skies alone
send
showers?
Is this not
by You,
O LORD
our God?
So we put our hope in You,
for
You
have done
all
these things.