1This is the LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2“Judah mourns,
3Their nobles send their little ones to the waters.
4Because of the ground which is cracked,
5Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young,
6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights.
7Though our iniquities testify against us,
8You hope of Israel,
9Why should you be like a scared man,
10The LORD says to this people:
11The LORD said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.
12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
13Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
14Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.
15Therefore the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.
16The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.
17“You shall say this word to them:
18If I go out into the field,
19Have you utterly rejected Judah?
20We acknowledge, LORD, our wickedness,
21Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake.
22Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?