1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah on the matter of the droughts:
2 "Judah mourns, and her gates droop; they sit darkened on the ground, and the outcry of Jerusalem rises.
3 Their nobles send their young servants for water; they go to the pits and find no water; they come back with their jars empty; they are ashamed and humiliated, and they cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground, which is dismayed since there has been no rain in the land, the plowmen are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the open field gives birth and leaves her fawn, for there is no grass.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, panting for air like jackals; their eyes fail, for there is no herbage."
7 Though our iniquities bear witness against us, O LORD, act for the sake of your name; for many are our turnings away; against you we have sinned.
8 Hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stops only to spend the night?
9 Why are you like a man bewildered, like a warrior unable to save? Yet you are among us, O LORD, and your name is called upon us; do not abandon us.
10 Thus says the LORD of this people: "So they have loved to wander; they have not held back their feet. So the LORD takes no pleasure in them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."
11 And the LORD said to me, "Do not pray on behalf of this people for their welfare.
12 Though they fast, I am not listening to their cry; though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I take no pleasure in them. Instead, by sword, famine and pestilence I will finish them off."
13 And I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! The prophets keep saying to them, 'You will not see a sword, and you will have no famine; rather, I will give you lasting peace in this place.'"
14 Then the LORD said to me, "Lies are what the prophets prophesy in my name. I did not send them or command them or speak to them. A lying vision, divination, worthlessness and the deceit of their own hearts is what they prophesy to you.
15 So thus says the LORD about the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, 'Sword and famine will not be in this land': By sword and by famine these prophets will come to their end.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword, with no one to bury them, they, their wives, their sons and their daughters; I will pour out their evil on them.
17 "Say this word to them: 'Let my eyes stream with tears night and day, and let them not stop; for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered with a great shattering, a blow that is very grievous.
18 If I go out into the field, look, the slain of the sword! If I come into the city, look, the sicknesses of famine! For both prophet and priest wander into a land they do not know.'"
19 Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you loathe Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but nothing good came; for a time of healing, and see, terror!
20 We know, O LORD, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
21 For your name's sake, do not reject us; do not treat with contempt the throne of your glory. Remember, and do not break your covenant with us.
22 Is there among the nothings of the nations one who brings rain? Or do the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O LORD our God? We hope in you, for you are the one who has made all these things.