Jeremiah 14:2-6. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
The distress in the land was so great that the city gates, where, in more prosperous times, business transactions took place, and meetings of the people were held, were deserted. There was nothing that could be done while the nation was in such sorrow, and a great cry of agony went up from the capital of the country: "The cry of Jerusalem is gone up." The highest in the land sent their children to hunt even for a little water to drink; they went to the cisterns where some might have been expected to remain, but they found none: they returned with their vessels empty; they were as ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads." The covering of the head was the sign of sorrow. You remember how, in the day of his distress, "David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered;" "and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." The ground had been reduced, by the drought, to such a state of hardness that it was useless to plough it, for there was no hope of any harvest coming. Even the wild creatures of the field shared the general suffering. The hind, which is reckoned by the Orientals to be the fondest of its young, forsook its fawn, and left it to perish, because there was no food. And the wild asses, which are able to endure thirst better than other creatures can and are always quick to perceive water if there is any to be found, tried in vain to scent it anywhere. "They snuffed up the wind like dragons,"-like cobras, or serpents, or jackals, as the word may be variously rendered,- but they snuffed in vain; and their eyes became like coals in their head: they "did fail, because there was no grass." What then? Why, the prophet turns to prayer as the only means of obtaining relief
Jeremiah 14:2-6. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
The distress in the land was so great that the city gates, where, in more prosperous times, business transactions took place, and meetings of the people were held, were deserted. There was nothing that could be done while the nation was in such sorrow, and a great cry of agony went up from the capital of the country: "The cry of Jerusalem is gone up." The highest in the land sent their children to hunt even for a little water to drink; they went to the cisterns where some might have been expected to remain, but they found none: they returned with their vessels empty; they were as ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads." The covering of the head was the sign of sorrow. You remember how, in the day of his distress, "David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered;" "and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." The ground had been reduced, by the drought, to such a state of hardness that it was useless to plough it, for there was no hope of any harvest coming. Even the wild creatures of the field shared the general suffering. The hind, which is reckoned by the Orientals to be the fondest of its young, forsook its fawn, and left it to perish, because there was no food. And the wild asses, which are able to endure thirst better than other creatures can and are always quick to perceive water if there is any to be found, tried in vain to scent it anywhere. "They snuffed up the wind like dragons,"-like cobras, or serpents, or jackals, as the word may be variously rendered,- but they snuffed in vain; and their eyes became like coals in their head: they "did fail, because there was no grass." What then? Why, the prophet turns to prayer as the only means of obtaining relief