¹This is the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts:

²“Judah is mourning,

And her gates are languishing

And lamenting for the land,

While Jerusalem's cry has gone up.

³And their nobles have sent their young children for water,

And they came to the cisterns,

But they did not find any water.

They returned with their vessels empty;

They were put to shame

And were made ignominious,

And they covered their heads.

⁴For the land is cracked,

For there has been no rain in the land.

The farmers have been put to shame;

They have covered their heads.

⁵For even the hind in the field has given birth

And abandoned the fawn,

For there was no grass.

⁶And wild donkeys stand on the heights

And draw breath like jackals.

Their eyes are wasted

Because there is no herbaceous vegetation.”

⁷Although our iniquities testify against us,

O Lord,

Act for the sake of your name,

For our apostasies are many;

We have sinned against you.

⁸O hope of Israel,

His saviour in a time of distress,

Why are you like a foreigner in the land,

And like a wayfarer who turns in

To lodge for the night?

⁹Why should you be like a startled man?

– Like a warrior unable to save?

But you are in our midst, O Lord,

And we are called after your name.

Do not abandon us!

¹⁰This is what the Lord says to this people:

“This is how they have loved to wander about:

They have not restrained their feet,

And the Lord has not had delight in them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

And visit their sins.”

¹¹And the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people favourably. ¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry, and when they offer a burnt offering and a meal-offering, I will not delight in them, for I will make an end of them with the sword and by famine, and by pestilence.” ¹³Then I said, “Alas, my Lord the Lord, what is happening is that the prophets are saying to them, ‘You will not see the sword, and you will not have a famine, for I will give you true peace in this place.’ ” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, and I did not command them, and I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision and divination – the vanity and deceit of their heart – ¹⁵which is why this is what the Lord says to the prophets who prophesy in my name when I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’ – those prophets will come to an end by the sword and famine. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy will be consigned to the outlying areas of Jerusalem on account of the famine and the sword. And there will be no-one to bury them – them, their wives, or their sons or their daughters. And I will pour their own evil on them. ¹⁷And you will say these words to them:

‘My eyes will run with tears night and day,

And they will not cease,

For the virgin daughter of my people

Has been broken up by a great disaster

– A very debilitating blow.

¹⁸If I go out into the field,

What I see is casualties of the sword,

And if I go into the city,

What I see is people suffering from famine,

For both prophet and priest travel around in a country

Which they do not care for.’ ”

¹⁹Have you really rejected Judah?

Or has your inner self loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us

To the extent that we are beyond healing?

We hoped for peace

But there is nothing good,

And for a time of healing,

But what came was terror.

²⁰We know, O Lord,

Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers,

For we have sinned against you.

²¹Do not despise us,

For the sake of your name.

Do not disdain your glorious throne.

Remember, and do not break

Your covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the idols of the Gentiles

Who cause rain?

Or do the heavens produce showers?

Is it not you who do,

O Lord our God?

And we put hope in you,

Because it is you

Who have made all these things.