14The LORD said to me concerning the drought,H1697H3068H3414H1697H12262"Judah is in mourning; its cities are dying, its people lie on the ground in sorrow, and Jerusalem cries out for help.H3063H56H8179H535H6937H776H6682H3389H59273The rich people send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; they come back with their jars empty. Discouraged and confused, they hide their faces.H117H7971H6810H4325H935H1356H1360H4672H4325H7725H3627H7387H954H3637H2645H72184Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.H127H2865H1653H776H406H954H2645H72185In the field the mother deer abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass.H365H3205H7704H5800H18776The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals; their eyesight fails them because they have no food.H6501H5975H8205H7602H7307H8577H5869H3615H62127My people cry out to me, 'Even though our sins accuse us, help us, LORD, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.H3068H5771H6030H6213H8034H4878H7231H23988You are Israel's only hope; you are the one who saves us from disaster. Why are you like a stranger in our land, like a traveler who stays for only one night?H4723H3478H3467H6256H6869H1616H776H732H5186H38859Why are you like someone taken by surprise, like a soldier powerless to help? Surely, LORD, you are with us! We are your people; do not abandon us.' "H376H1724H1368H3201H3467H3068H7130H7121H8034H324010The LORD says about these people, "They love to run away from me, and they will not control themselves. So I am not pleased with them. I will remember the wrongs they have done and punish them because of their sins."H559H3068H5971H157H5128H2820H7272H3068H7521H2142H5771H6485H240311The LORD said to me, "Do not ask me to help these people.H559H3068H6419H5971H289612Even if they fast, I will not listen to their cry for help; and even if they offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. Instead, I will kill them in war and by starvation and disease."H6684H8085H7440H5927H5930H4503H7521H3615H2719H7458H169813Then I said, "Sovereign LORD, you know that the prophets are telling the people that there will be no war or starvation, because you have promised, they say, that there will be only peace in our land."H559H162H136H3069H5030H559H7200H2719H7458H5414H571H7965H472514But the LORD replied, "The prophets are telling lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I give them any orders or speak one word to them. The visions they talk about have not come from me; their predictions are worthless things that they have imagined.H3068H559H5030H5012H8267H8034H7971H6680H1696H5012H8267H2377H7081H457H434H8649H382015I, the LORD, tell you what I am going to do to those prophets whom I did not send but who speak in my name and say war and starvation will not strike this land - I will kill them in war and by starvation.H559H3068H5030H5012H8034H7971H559H2719H7458H776H2719H7458H5030H855216The people to whom they have said these things will be killed in the same way. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to all of them - including their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will make them pay for their wickedness."H5971H5012H7993H2351H3389H6440H7458H2719H6912H1992H802H1121H1323H8210H745117The LORD commanded me to tell the people about my sorrow and to say: "May my eyes flow with tears day and night, may I never stop weeping, for my people are deeply wounded and are badly hurt.H559H1697H5869H3381H1832H3915H3119H1820H1330H1323H5971H7665H1419H7667H3966H2470H434718When I go out in the fields, I see the bodies of men killed in war; when I go into the towns, I see people starving to death. Prophets and priests carry on their work, but they don't know what they are doing."H3318H7704H2491H2719H935H5892H8463H7458H5030H3548H5503H776H304519LORD, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you hate the people of Zion? Why have you hurt us so badly that we cannot be healed? We looked for peace, but nothing good happened; we hoped for healing, but terror came instead.H3988H3988H3063H5315H1602H6726H5221H4832H6960H7965H2896H6256H4832H120520We have sinned against you, LORD; we confess our own sins and the sins of our ancestors.H3045H3068H7562H5771H1H239821Remember your promises and do not despise us; do not bring disgrace on Jerusalem, the place of your glorious throne. Do not break the covenant you made with us.H5006H8034H5034H3678H3519H2142H6565H128522None of the idols of the nations can send rain; the sky by itself cannot make showers fall. We have put our hope in you, O LORD our God, because you are the one who does these things.H3426H1892H1471H1652H8064H5414H7241H3068H430H6960H6213
Unknown
