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14. Drought, Famine, Sword

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

    ² “Judah mourns,
   her cities languish;
they wail for the land,
   and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
³ The nobles send their servants for water;
   they go to the cisterns
   but find no water.
They return with their jars unfilled;
   dismayed and despairing,
   they cover their heads.
⁴ The ground is cracked
   because there is no rain in the land;
the farmers are dismayed
   and cover their heads.
⁵ Even the doe in the field
   deserts her newborn fawn
   because there is no grass.
⁶ Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
   and pant like jackals;
their eyes fail
   for lack of food.”

    ⁷ Although our sins testify against us,
   do something, LORD, for the sake of your name.
For we have often rebelled;
   we have sinned against you.
⁸ You who are the hope of Israel,
   its Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in the land,
   like a traveler who stays only a night?
⁹ Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
   like a warrior powerless to save?
You are among us, LORD,
   and we bear your name;
   do not forsake us!

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says about this people:

   “They greatly love to wander;
   they do not restrain their feet.
So the LORD does not accept them;
   he will now remember their wickedness
   and punish them for their sins.”

¹¹ Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. ¹² Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

¹³ But I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries Or visions, worthless divinations and the delusions of their own minds. ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. ¹⁶ And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.

¹⁷ “Speak this word to them:

   “‘Let my eyes overflow with tears
   night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin Daughter, my people,
   has suffered a grievous wound,
   a crushing blow.
¹⁸ If I go into the country,
   I see those slain by the sword;
if I go into the city,
   I see the ravages of famine.
Both prophet and priest
   have gone to a land they know not.’”

    ¹⁹ Have you rejected Judah completely?
   Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
   so that we cannot be healed?
We hoped for peace
   but no good has come,
for a time of healing
   but there is only terror.
²⁰ We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD,
   and the guilt of our ancestors;
   we have indeed sinned against you.
²¹ For the sake of your name do not despise us;
   do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
   and do not break it.
²² Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
   Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, LORD our God.
   Therefore our hope is in you,
   for you are the one who does all this.

This then was the reason why God so severely visited the Jews, who had been deceived by false teachers: it was owing to their previous impiety and ingratitude. And on this account also he adds at the end of the verse, I will pour forth upon them their wickedness Some think that the word רעה, roe, may denote punishment as well as wickedness, as עון, oun, also is taken for both. But the Prophet seems to give a reason why God had resolved to execute so dreadful a judgment on the Jews; and the reason was, because they were worthy of such a reward. I am therefore inclined to render the word wickedness, as though he had said, “A dreadful calamity indeed awaits this people; but that they may not complain of my severity, they shall receive the reward of their own wickedness.” However this may be, the Prophet no doubt wished here to close the mouths of the Jews, that they might not proceed in their evasions, as though God treated them with too little kindness. Hence then it appears, that God does not heedlessly execute his vengeance on the innocent; but that the teachers and the whole people, who approved of them, were involved in the same punishment. ¹¹⁷¹¹⁷     These two verses are differently connected by some: the words, “these prophets,” at the end of the fifteenth verse, are joined with the “the people” in the next verse; and this construction is evidently the best, —
   15. Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, — As to the prophets who prophesy in my name, (Though I have not sent them, yet they say, — The sword and the famine shall not be in this land) By the sword and by the famine shall they perish:
   16. These prophets, and the people, to whom they prophesy, Shall be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem, On account of the famine and the sword; And there will be none to bury them — Neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; Thus will I pour upon them their own wickedness.
   The preceding connection is favored by the Septuagint and the Arabic, but the other versions do not join the “prophets” and the “people” together. “Their own wickedness” is “their own evils” in the Septuagint, — “their own evil” in the Vulgate, — and “their own wickedness” in the Syriac. If rendered “wickedness,” then it is a metonymy for the fruit or effect of wickedness; if “evil” then the meaning is, the evil due to them. — Ed.

And he says, They shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem by the famine and the sword, or on account of the famine and the sword. They shall then all of them, that is, their carcases, be cast out; for their carcases are evidently meant, as he immediately adds, and no one shall bury them; and he mentions their wives and children. And these had no excuse for themselves, for we have seen in the seventh chapter that this charge was brought against them, rothat the children gathered wood, that the parents kindled the fire, and that the women kneaded the dough to make cakes for their idols. The Prophet then intimates, that no one would escape, because they were all implicated in the same wickedness, some more and some less, but so far, however, that the children were not to go unpunished, because they followed their fathers, nor the wives, because they followed the example of their husbands. It follows —