Jeremiah 14:1-9

A Lament over the Ravages of Drought

14:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the drought.

14:2 “The people of Judah are in mourning.

The people in her cities are pining away.

They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow.

Cries of distress come up to me from Jerusalem.

14:3 The leading men of the cities send their servants for water.

They go to the cisterns, but they do not find any water there.

They return with their containers empty.

Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands.

14:4 They are dismayed because the ground is cracked

because there has been no rain in the land.

The farmers, too, are dismayed

and bury their faces in their hands.

14:5 Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn in the field

because there is no grass.

14:6 Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops

and pant for breath like jackals.

Their eyes are strained looking for food,

because there is none to be found.”

14:7 Then I said,

“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name

even though our sins speak out against us.

Indeed, we have turned away from you many times.

We have sinned against you.

14:8 You have been the object of Israel’s hopes.

You have saved them when they were in trouble.

Why have you become like a resident foreigner in the land?

Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

14:9 Why should you be like someone who is helpless,

like a champion who cannot save anyone?

You are indeed with us,

and we belong to you.

Do not abandon us!”

Joel 1:13-20

1:13 Get dressed and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore.

1:14 Announce a holy fast;

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

1:15 How awful that day will be!

For the day of the Lord is near;

it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.

1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes!

There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God!

1:17 The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels.

Storehouses have been decimated

and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

1:18 Listen to the cattle groan!

The herds of livestock wander around in confusion

because they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help,

for fire has burned up the grassy pastures,

flames have razed all the trees in the fields.

1:20 Even the wild animals cry out to you;

for the river beds have dried up;

fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

Joel 2:15-17

2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion.

Announce a holy fast;

proclaim a sacred assembly!

2:16 Gather the people;

sanctify an assembly!

Gather the elders;

gather the children and the nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom

and the bride from her private quarters.

2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep

from the vestibule all the way back to the altar.

Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;

please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,

to become a proverb among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”