Jeremiah 14:2

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah concerning the matter of the severe drought. ² "Judah mourns, and her gates languish, they are in mourning on the ground, and the cry of lament of Jerusalem goes up. ³ And their nobles send their servants for water. They come to the pits, they find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed, and they are confounded, and they cover their heads. ⁴ Because of the ground, which is cracked because there was no rain on the ground. The farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads. ⁵ For even the doe in the field gives birth and forsakes her young, because there is no green growth. ⁶ And wild asses stand on the barren heights, they gasp for breath like the jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation." ⁷ Although our iniquities testify against us, O Yahweh, act for the sake of your name. Yes, our apostasies are many; we have sinned against you. ⁸ You are the hope of Israel, its savior in time of distress. Why should you be like an alien in the land, or like a traveler who spreads out his tent to spend the night? ⁹ Why should you be like a confused man, like a warrior who is not able to help? Yet you are in our midst, O Yahweh, and your name is called upon us. You must not leave us!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mourneth: Jeremiah 4:28, Jeremiah 12:4, Isaiah 3:26, Hosea 4:3, Joel 1:10

the gates: Isaiah 24:4, Isaiah 24:7, Isaiah 33:9

they: Jeremiah 8:21, Lamentations 2:9, Lamentations 4:8, Lamentations 4:9, Lamentations 5:10, Joel 2:6

the cry: Jeremiah 11:11, Jeremiah 18:22, Exodus 2:24, 1 Samuel 5:12, 1 Samuel 9:16, Job 34:28, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 15:5, Zechariah 7:13

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:16 - in the field 1 Kings 18:2 - a sore Jeremiah 4:26 - the fruitful Jeremiah 12:11 - it mourneth Jeremiah 23:10 - the land Jeremiah 46:12 - thy cry Lamentations 1:4 - ways Lamentations 2:8 - he made Amos 1:2 - the habitations Habakkuk 3:17 - the fig tree

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Genesis 13:10
And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well-watered land—this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar.

Genesis 14:9
with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

Genesis 14:10
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into them, but the rest fled to the mountains.

Genesis 14:20
And blessed be God Most High who delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave to him a tenth of everything.

Deuteronomy 29:23
‘All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, none of its land will be sown, and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.'

Deuteronomy 34:3
and the Negev and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palms, on up to Zoar.

1 Samuel 13:18
One division turned on the road to Beth Horon, and one turned on the road toward the border overlooking the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

Nehemiah 11:34
Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

Isaiah 15:5
My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives flee up to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Judah mourneth,.... That is, the inhabitants of Judah; those of the house of Judah, as the Targum; these mourned because of the drought and famine that were upon the land:

and the gates thereof languish; the cities of Judah, as the Targum; the inhabitants of them, which used to be supplied from the field, and out of the country; gates may be mentioned, because through the gates the provisions were brought into the city; but now none; and therefore are said to languish; or else those that sat in the gates are meant, the elders of the people, the senators, the judges, and civil magistrates; these shared in the common calamity:

they are black unto the ground; that is, the inhabitants of the cities, and those that sit in the gates, their faces are black through famine; see Lamentations 4:8, so the Targum,

"their faces are covered with blackness, they are black as a pot;''

and which they turned to the ground, and looked downwards, not being able to lift them up through the sorrow and distress they were in, and through faintness of spirit for want of food:

and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up: meaning the cry and lamentation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem because of the famine, for that city was not exempted from it, it having its supply from the country; or the prayer of them, and of the people from all parts got together there, which went up to heaven for rain: it being usual, in times of common distress, for the people in the country to come up to Jerusalem to the temple to pray to God, and particularly for rain, when there was a want of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They are black unto the ground - The people assembled at the gates, the usual places of concourse, are in deep mourning and sit humbly on the ground.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 14:2. The gates thereof languish — The gates being the places of public resort, they are put here for the people.

They are black unto the ground — Covered from head to foot with a black garment, the emblem of sorrow and calamity.