Jeremiah 14

This chapter is one of the prophecies of judgment against Judah collected in the first part of the Book of Jeremiah (chapters 1–25). It follows the parable of the linen girdle and the warning of exile in chapter 13. The lament over the drought and the LORD's response that begin here continue into the opening of chapter 15.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 The word of the LORD comes concerning the drought. The crowds at the city gates sit on the ground in mourning, and the servants sent to draw water return with empty vessels. Farmers and wild animals alike suffer for lack of rain and grass.
• Verses 7–9 The people confess their sins and plead with the LORD, for His name's sake, not to forsake them.
• Verses 10–12 The LORD answers that He will not accept them, because they have loved to wander. He commands Jeremiah not to pray for the good of this people and declares that He will not accept their fasting or their offerings but will send sword, famine, and pestilence.
• Verses 13–16 When Jeremiah mentions the prophets who promise "assured peace," the LORD replies that they are false prophets whom He did not send and that both they and the people who listened to them will perish by sword and famine.
• Verses 17–18 With tears that do not cease night and day, a lament is raised over the death that fills the fields and the city.
• Verses 19–22 The people again acknowledge their sin and plead with God to remember His covenant, confessing that it is not the vanities of the nations but the LORD alone who sends rain.

Key Verses

• Jeremiah 14:7 "Do thou it for thy name's sake" — a model prayer of repentance that appeals not to the people's merit but to God's name.
• Jeremiah 14:14 "The prophets prophesy lies in my name" — an example of the conflict between true and false prophecy that runs throughout the Book of Jeremiah.
• Jeremiah 14:22 "Art not thou he, O LORD our God?" — a confession that the LORD alone governs the rain.

People and Places

• Jeremiah: The prophet who conveys the people's plea and receives God's answer.
• The LORD: The God of Israel, who receives the plea and pronounces judgment.
• The false prophets: Those who prophesied that sword and famine would not come.
• Jerusalem: The capital of Judah, from which the cry goes up.
• Zion: In verse 19, a name for Jerusalem and its people.

Points for Reflection

• The command forbidding intercession (v. 11) also appears in chapters 7 and 11. Some interpreters read it as a one-time verdict on the Judah of that era, while others apply it more broadly as a warning against formal religion without repentance.
• Interpreters differ over whether the tears of verse 17 are the prophet's own or God's sorrow expressed through the prophet. Calling Jeremiah "the weeping prophet" and regarding him as the author of Lamentations are traditions that arise from outside the text.
• Verse 22 is commonly understood as having in view the worship of Baal, who was believed to give rain.
• The theme of prophesying false peace leads into the account of Hananiah in chapter 28. The passage is also sometimes read alongside the New Testament warning against false prophets (Matthew 7:15).