Chapter Fourteen

1–6. A description of drought. 7–12. God’s refusal to hear the prophet’s prayer for the people. 13–18. False prophets. 19–22. A new intercession by Jeremiah.

Jer 14:1-6. The prophet depicts drought in the Judean country. Both people and animals suffer greatly from lack of rain.

Jeremiah 14:1. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Here, probably, reference is being made to the absence of the so-called late rain, which falls in early spring. This “lack of rain” was very dangerous for a country whose entire harvest depends on this rain. Besides, this rain fills various reservoirs in Palestine, and without it everyone suffers from thirst during summer (cf. Joel 1:17-20).

Jeremiah 14:2. Judah mourns, her gates are broken down, they mourn on the ground, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. “The gates are broken down”—that is, the Jews, gathered at the city square by the gates, in exhaustion sit on the ground in mourning garments of black.

Jeremiah 14:3. The nobles send their servants for water; they come to the wells and find no water; they return with empty vessels; humiliated and confused, they cover their heads. Even now, when water runs out in Jerusalem, people are sent for water to the well of Job, to the south of Jerusalem, where water usually flows even in hot weather.

Jeremiah 14:4. Because the ground is cracked from the lack of rain on the earth, the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads. According to Duhm’s reading, the beginning of the verse should be translated thus: “and those working the land have come in dismay because there has been no rain on the earth.”

Jeremiah 14:5. Even the doe gives birth in the field and abandons her young, because there is no grass. The doe was distinguished, in the opinion of the ancients (Bochart, Hier. 1663, 1:893), by special tenderness toward her young. Jer 14:7-12. Although the prophet acknowledges that the Lord is justly punishing the Jews for their sins, he asks God to forgive them because God’s name is proclaimed over the people of Judah. However, God refuses to have mercy on the people because of their utter ungodliness and even announces to the Jews new punishments.

Jeremiah 14:9. Why are You like a man bewildered, like a mighty man unable to save? And yet You, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and Your name is called upon us; do not forsake us. “Bewildered”—that is, deprived, as a result of some misfortune, of the ability to reason and observe. “Your name is called upon”—see Jer 7:10. Jer 14:13-18. The prophet tries to excuse his people by the fact that false prophets are leading them astray, promising them peace and well-being. But Jehovah condemns both the prophets and those who listen to their prophesies. Nothing other than either death or exile can await the inhabitants of Jerusalem!

Jeremiah 14:14. And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor did I command them, nor did I speak to them; they are prophesying to you vain visions and divinations, worthlessness, and the delusions of their own hearts. “Divinations”—from the Hebrew kesem. This word has a bad sense, especially when the following phrase “worthlessness” is added. “Delusions of their own hearts”—that is, products of their own fantasy, not revelations from God.

Jeremiah 14:16. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be scattered in the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword, and there will be no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters; and I will pour out their wickedness upon them. “People”—better: people, because not all the people are meant here (cf. Jer 20:6). “Their wickedness”—that is, their evil deeds will serve as punishment for them.

Jeremiah 14:18. When I go out into the field, behold, those slain by the sword! When I enter the city, behold, those wasting away from famine! Both prophet and priest roam the land in bewilderment. “In bewilderment”—more correctly from the LXX: “which they did not know” (Babylon is meant). Jer 14:19-22. Jeremiah does not venture to come to his people with such a prediction and again beseeches God to spare the Jews, who are waiting so for His mercy.

Jeremiah 14:20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the sin of our fathers; for we have sinned against You. Guilt before God in the Jews is partly inherited from their ancestors and partly their own.

Jeremiah 14:21. Do not reject us for the sake of Your name; do not dishonor Your throne of glory; remember, do not break Your covenant with us. The throne of God’s glory—this is the Temple in Jerusalem. Special Remarks. See after Chapter 15.