141 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the drought : 2 "Judah mourns And her gates languish ; They sit on the ground in mourning , And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended . 3 "Their nobles have sent their servants for water ; They have come to the cisterns and found no water . They have returned with their vessels empty ; They have been put to shame and humiliated , And they cover their heads . 4 "Because the ground is cracked , For there has been no rain on the land ; The farmers have been put to shame , They have covered their heads . 5 "For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass . 6 "The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights ; They pant for air like jackals , Their eyes fail For there is no vegetation . 7 "Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord , act for Your name's sake ! Truly our apostasies have been many , We have sinned against You. 8 "O Hope of Israel , Its Savior in time of distress , Why are You like a stranger in the land Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night ? 9 "Why are You like a man dismayed , Like a mighty man who cannot e save ? Yet You are in our midst , O Lord , And we are called by Your name ; Do not forsake us!"
10 Thus says the Lord to this people , "Even so they have loved to wander ; they have not kept their feet in check . Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account ." 11 So the Lord said to me, " Do not pray for the welfare of this people . 12 "When they fast , I am not going to listen to their cry ; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering , I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword , famine and pestilence ." 13 But, "Ah , Lord GOD !" I said , "Look , the prophets are telling them, 'You will not see the sword nor will you have famine , but I will give you lasting peace in this place .' " 14 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 a false vision , divination , futility and the deception of their own minds . 15 "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name , although it was not I who sent them-yet they keep saying , 'There will be no sword or famine in this land '- by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end ! 16 "The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because e of the famine and the sword ; and there will be no one to bury them-neither them, nor their wives , nor their sons , nor their daughters -for I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
17 "You will say this word to them, ' Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day , And let them not cease ; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow , With a sorely infected wound . 18 'If I go out to the country , Behold , those slain with the sword ! Or if I enter the city , Behold , diseases of famine ! For both prophet and priest Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know .' " 19 Have You completely rejected Judah ? Or have You loathed Zion ? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing ? We waited for peace , but nothing good came; And for a time of healing , but behold , terror ! 20 We know our wickedness , O Lord , The iniquity of our fathers , for we have sinned against You. 21 Do not despise us, for Your own name's sake ; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory ; Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain ? Or can the heavens grant showers ? Is it not You, O Lord our God ? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things .
31 God says , " If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man , Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted ? But you are a harlot with many lovers ; Yet you turn to Me," declares the Lord . 2 "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see ; Where have you not been violated ? By the roads you have sat for them Like an Arab in the desert , And you have polluted a land With your harlotry and with your wickedness . 3 "Therefore the showers have been withheld , And there has been no spring rain . Yet you had a harlot's e forehead ; You refused to be ashamed . 4 "Have you not just now called to Me, ' My Father , You are the friend of my youth ? 5 ' Will He be angry forever ? Will He be indignant to the end ?' Behold , you have spoken And have done evil things , And you have had your way ."
6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king , "Have you seen what faithless Israel did ? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree , and she was a harlot there . 7 " I thought , 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me'; but she did not return , and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel , I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce , yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear ; but she went and was a harlot also . 9 "Because of the lightness of her harlotry , she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees . 10 "Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart , but rather e in deception ," declares the Lord . 11 And the Lord said to me, " Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah .
12 "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say , ' Return , faithless Israel ,' declares the Lord ; ' I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious ,' declares the Lord ; 'I will not be angry forever . 13 'Only acknowledge your iniquity , That you have transgressed against the Lord your God And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree , And you have not obeyed My voice ,' declares the Lord . 14 'Return , O faithless sons ,' declares the Lord ; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family , And I will bring you to Zion .' 15 "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart , who will feed you on knowledge and understanding . 16 "It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land ," declares the Lord , "they will no longer say , 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord .' And it will not come to mind , nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again . 17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord ,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem , for the name of the Lord ; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart . 18 " In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel , and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance . 19 "Then I said , 'How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land , The most beautiful inheritance of the nations !' And I said , 'You shall call Me, My Father , And not turn away from following Me.'
20 "Surely , as a woman treacherously departs from her lover , So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel ," declares the Lord . 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights , The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel ; Because they have perverted their way , They have forgotten the Lord their God . 22 "Return , O faithless sons , I will heal your faithlessness ." "Behold , we come to You; For You are the Lord our God . 23 "Surely , the hills are a deception , A tumult on the mountains . Surely in the Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel . 24 "But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth , their flocks and their herds , their sons and their daughters . 25 "Let us lie down in our shame , and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God , we and our fathers , from our youth even to this day . And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God ."
