14 ¹ The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

14 ² "Judah mourns and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
14 ³ Her nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns,
they find no water,
they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
and cover their heads.
14 ⁴ Because of the ground which is dismayed,
since there is no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed,
they cover their heads.
14 ⁵ Even the hind in the field forsakes her newborn calf
because there is no grass.
14 ⁶ The wild asses stand on the bare heights,
they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

14 ⁷ "Though our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Yahweh, for your name's sake;
for our backslidings are many,
we have sinned against you.
14 ⁸ O you hope of Israel,
its saviour in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night?
14 ⁹ Why should you be like a man confused,
like a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet you are in the midst of us, O Yahweh,
and we are called by your name;
leave us not."

14 ¹⁰ Thus says Yahweh concerning this people:
"They have loved to wander thus,
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore Yahweh does not accept them,
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins."

14 ¹¹ Yahweh said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 14 ¹² Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

14 ¹³ Then I said: "Ah, Yahweh 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 ¹⁴ And Yahweh said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 14 ¹⁵ Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not come on this land': By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 14 ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them - them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

14 ¹⁷ "You shall say to them this word:
'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound,
with a very grievous blow.
14 ¹⁸ If I go out into the field,
behold, those slain by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
behold, the diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land,
and have no knowledge.' "