Jeremiah chapter 14

The great drought. The people will cry out for deliverance.

 


 

THE GREAT DROUGHT

 

VERSE 1. This is the LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

 

VERSE 2. “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

 

VERSE 3. Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.

They come to the cisterns, and find no water. This is true for the victims of a drought.

And many people find this to be true of their spiritual practices. They pray and meditate and get nothing out of it. They are in The Dark Night.

 

VERSE 4. Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.

no rain has been in the land. This is the case when there is a drought.

And many people find this to be true in their churches. Powerful biblical preaching is like rain.

When a church lacks powerful biblical preaching, it is in a spiritual drought. Its people suffer. And the church looses its power to minister to other people.

 

VERSE 5. Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

 

VERSE 6. The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation.

 

THE PEOPLE CRY OUT FOR DELIVERANCE

 

VERSE 7. Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, LORD; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.

KJV translation. O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

our backslidings are many. This might be where the term “backsliding” originated.

 

VERSE 8. You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

 

VERSE 9. Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, LORD, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don’t leave us.

in the middle of us:. That is, in the midst of us.

 

VERSE 10. The LORD says to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins.”

 

VERSE 11. The LORD said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.

NASB translation. So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people.

Don’t pray for this people. Sometimes the LORD God directs his prophets to not pray for certain people.

Jeremiah 11:14. Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster. (NASB translation)

 

VERSE 12. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

 

VERSE 13. Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

 

VERSE 14. Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

NASB translation. Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you afalse vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.

prophets are prophesying falsehood. This is the origin of the term “false prophet.”

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of “many” who would deceive others by means of false prophecies.

In our day, anybody can stand up in front of others and pretend that the Holy Spirit has given them such-and-such a prophecy.

In our day, a popular form of the false prophet is the political pastor. He identifies with a certain political party.

He preaches that party’s ideology indirectly, using the Bible and theological language.

Many believers are sincere and trust their pastor. They do not suspect he is a false prophet. He will succeed in deceiving them.

 

VERSE 15. Therefore the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.

consumed by sword and famine. False prophets will die by the sword or by a drought.

 

VERSE 16. The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

 

VERSE 17. “You shall say this word to them: “ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

Let my eyes run down with tears. At the prospect of Jerusalem and this drought, Jeremiah welled up with tears.

He cried day and night over the fall of Jerusalem.

 

VERSE 18. If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’ ”

 

VERSE 19. Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

 

VERSE 20. We acknowledge, LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.

 

VERSE 21. Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

 

VERSE 22. Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, the LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

 


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JEREMIAH

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