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 confounded and 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 loke 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 wander; they have not restrained their feet.Therefore the LORD does 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 says to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shalll 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 , worthless thing, and the deciet of their heart.

15 "Therefore thus sys the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My  name, whom I did not send, and who say , ' Sword and famine shall not lie 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 tear night and day, and let them not cease ; for the virgin daughter of my people has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.

18 If 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.' "

19 Have You utterly rejected Judah ? Has Your soul loathed Zion ? Why have You stricken us so that there is no peace, but there was no good ; and for the time of healing, and there was trouble.

20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness and 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. JEREMIAH 14