Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

² “Judah mourns,And her gates languish;They mourn for the land,And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.³ Their nobles have sent their lads for water;They went to the cisterns and found no water.They returned with their vessels empty;They were ashamed and confoundedAnd covered their heads.⁴ Because the ground is parched,For there was no rain in the land,The plowmen were ashamed;They covered their heads.⁵ Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,But left because there was no grass.⁶ And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;They sniffed at the wind like jackals;Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

⁷ O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,Do it for Your name’s sake;For our backslidings are many,We have sinned against You.⁸ O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,Why should You be like a stranger in the land,And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?⁹ Why should You be like a man astonished,Like a mighty one who cannot save?Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst,And we are called by Your name;Do not leave us!

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord to this people:

“Thus they have loved to wander;They have not restrained their feet.Therefore the Lord does not accept them;He will remember their iniquity now,And punish their sins.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good. ¹² When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

¹³ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”

¹⁴ And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. ¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

¹⁷ “Therefore you shall say this word to them:

‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,And let them not cease;For the virgin daughter of my peopleHas been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.¹⁸ If I go out to the field,Then behold, those slain with the sword!And if I enter the city,Then behold, those sick from famine!Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.’”

The People Plead for Mercy

¹⁹ Have You utterly rejected Judah?Has Your soul loathed Zion?Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us?We looked for peace, but there was no good;And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.²⁰ We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickednessAnd the iniquity of our fathers,For we have sinned against You.²¹ Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.²² Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?Or can the heavens give showers?Are You not He, O Lord our God?Therefore we will wait for You,Since You have made all these.