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`ssake;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 lnd,and like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?

9 Why  shold 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.Jeremiah 14:1-12