14The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
² Judah mourns
   and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground,
   and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
³ Her nobles send their servants for water;
   they come to the cisterns,
they find no water,
   they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed
   and cover their heads,
⁴ because the ground is cracked.
   Because there has been no rain on the land
the farmers are dismayed;
   they cover their heads.
⁵ Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
   because there is no grass.
⁶ The wild asses stand on the bare heights,
   they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
   because there is no herbage.

⁷ Although our iniquities testify against us,
   act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
our apostasies indeed are many,
   and we have sinned against you.
⁸ O hope of Israel,
   its saviour in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
   like a traveller turning aside for the night?
⁹ Why should you be like someone confused,
   like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
   and we are called by your name;
   do not forsake us!