1. This is the Lord’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
2. “Judah mourns,and its gates languish.They sit in black on the ground.The cry of Jerusalem goes up.
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.
4. Because of the ground which is cracked,because no rain has been in the land,the plowmen are disappointed.They cover their heads.
5. Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes 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,because there is no vegetation.
7. Though our iniquities testify against us,work for your name’s sake, Lord;for our rebellions are many.We have sinned against you.
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?
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.
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.”