1. The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
2. Judah mourneth, and her gates languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3. 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.
4. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain on the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
5. Yes, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6. And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
7. O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
8. O the hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?