Jeremiah · chapter 14 of 52
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Jeremiah 14 opens with a great drought that dries up cisterns and fields. Jeremiah prays for the people, but the Lord tells him not to plead for them, because they will fast and he will not hear. The prophets promise peace and are denounced as false. The chapter ends with another prayer by the people, who admit their wickedness and appeal to the Lord's name, the only one who can give rain.
Jeremiah 14 opens with a drought, a concrete event that becomes the occasion for a prayer of lament. In the Old Testament, rain is a sign of the covenant blessing and its lack a warning. The chapter combines prayer, God's answer and a debate over the prophets, and shows Jeremiah trying to intercede for a people whose case the Lord has already closed.
The chapter describes a drought. Judah mourns, her gates languish, nobles send their servants for water and they return with empty vessels. Farmers cover their heads because the ground is cracked. Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass, and wild donkeys pant like jackals.
Jeremiah prays: though our iniquities testify against us, act for your name's sake. Hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land? Yet you are in our midst, and we are called by your name; do not leave us. The Lord answers that this people love to wander and do not restrain their feet, so he does not accept them. He tells Jeremiah not to pray for the welfare of this people: though they fast he will not hear their cry, nor accept their offerings; he will consume them by sword, famine and pestilence.
Jeremiah protests that the prophets say they will not see the sword or suffer famine but will have lasting peace in this place. The Lord answers that they prophesy lies in his name: he did not send them or speak to them. They and those who listen will perish by sword and famine. God tells him to say this word: let my eyes run down with tears night and day, for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered. If I go into the field, behold, those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine. Prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge.
The people pray again: have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord. Do not spurn us for your name's sake; remember your covenant. Are there any among the idols of the nations who can bring rain? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jeremiah admits that their iniquities testify against them and asks the Lord to act for his name's sake. He does not appeal to their merits but to God's faithfulness to himself.
The prophet reminds the Lord that he is in their midst and that his name is called over them, and begs him not to leave them. This is the basis of intercession: the covenant relationship.
The Lord declares that the prophets prophesy lies in his name and that he did not send them or speak to them. Speaking in God's name is a serious responsibility that cannot be settled by merely claiming it.
The idols of the nations cannot make it rain, nor do the heavens give showers by themselves. Only the Lord gives rain, and the people end by confessing that their hope is in him.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: They were dry from the drought; servants came back with empty vessels and the ground was cracked. — Jeremiah 14:3-4
Answer: The Lord's name, since he is in their midst and his name is called over them. — Jeremiah 14:7-9
Answer: Not to pray for the welfare of this people. — Jeremiah 14:11
Answer: That they would not see the sword or famine, but lasting peace. — Jeremiah 14:13
Answer: That they prophesy lies in his name and that he did not send them or speak to them. — Jeremiah 14:14
Answer: Whether any of them can bring rain. — Jeremiah 14:22
The chapter shows a prayer that mixes confession and plea. The people do not ask for help on their merits but for God's name's sake. It is a good model for prayer: admit sin honestly and lean on God's character. A group can practice praying this way for its church or community.
It also warns about comfortable messages. The prophets who said peace were popular but deceived. Those who teach today should ask whether what they say comes from God's word or from what people want to hear, and listeners should test messages against Scripture.
Jeremiah 14 ends with a prayer that trusts only in the Lord. In chapter 15 the answer is hard: even Moses and Samuel could not change the course, and Jeremiah voices his personal complaint again.
The text indicates that judgment was already decided after years of warnings and that the people were not repenting; fasting and sacrifices without a change of heart do not help. It does not teach that God always ignores prayer, but that at that moment intercession would not reverse the punishment.
In the Bible God's name stands for his character and his reputation among the nations. Asking him to act for his name is to appeal to his faithfulness and his purpose to be known, rather than to what the people deserve.
By what he says: he promises peace without calling for repentance and claims to speak in God's name without having been sent. The text gives no single test, but it shows that a message that contradicts what God has already said cannot come from him.