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The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
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"Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
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Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.
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Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads.
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Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass.
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And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass."
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O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You.
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O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
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Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!
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Thus says the Lord to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins."
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Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good.
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"When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."