1 The word of the LORD that was given to Jeremiah concerning the famine.
2 Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads. 4 Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5 Even the hind calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. 6 And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for thy name’s sake; for our rebellions have multiplied; we have sinned against thee. 8 O the hope of Israel, the Keeper thereof in time of trouble, why should thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why should thou be as a speechless man as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; do not leave us.
10 Thus hath the LORD said unto this people, Thus have they loved to move, nor have they refrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not have them in his will; he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.
11 Then the LORD said unto me, Do not pray for this people for their good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by sword and by famine and by pestilence.