Jeremiah 14:2
◄  Jeremiah 14:2  ►
New International Version (©2011)
"Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

New Living Translation (©2007)
"Judah wilts; commerce at the city gates grinds to a halt. All the people sit on the ground in mourning, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.

English Standard Version (©2001)
“Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Judah mourns And her gates languish; They sit on the ground in mourning, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Judah mourns; her gates languish. Her people are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem's cry rises up.

International Standard Version (©2012)
"Judah mourns, and her gates languish. The people mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

NET Bible (©2006)
"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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Judah mourns; its gates fall apart. The people of Judah sit in mourning on the ground. Their cry goes up from Jerusalem.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they mourn for the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

American King James Version
Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

American Standard Version
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Darby Bible Translation
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem goeth up.

English Revised Version
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Webster's Bible Translation
Judah mourneth, and her gates languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

World English Bible
Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

Young's Literal Translation
Mourned hath Judah, and her gates have languished, They have mourned to the earth, And the cry of Jerusalem hath gone up.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-9 The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not be taught to value it by feeling the want of it. See what dependence husbandmen have upon the Divine providence. They cannot plough nor sow in hope, unless God water their furrows. The case even of the wild beasts was very pitiable. The people are not forward to pray, but the prophet prays for them. Sin is humbly confessed. Our sins not only accuse us, but answer against us. Our best pleas in prayer are those fetched from the glory of God's own name. We should dread God's departure, more than the removal of our creature-comforts. He has given Israel his word to hope in. It becomes us in prayer to show ourselves more concerned for God's glory than for our own comfort. And if we now return to the Lord, he will save us to the glory of his grace.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - The tenses in the following description should be perfects and presents; the Authorized Version, by its inconsistency, destroys the unity of the picture. The gates thereof; i.e. the people assembled there. They are black unto the ground. "To be black," in Hebrew, is "to be dressed in mourning" (so e.g., Psalm 35:14, "I bowed down in black"). Here we must understand the same verb which is expressed in the psalm, "They bowed down in mourning attire to the ground." "Black," however, is not to be taken literally; it means rather "squalid, unwashed" (of garments).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. gates—The place of public concourse in each city looks sad, as being no longer frequented (Isa 3:26; 24:4).

black—that is, they mourn (blackness being indicative of sorrow), (Jer 8:21).

unto the ground—bowing towards it.

cry—of distress (1Sa 5:12; Isa 24:11).

Jeremiah 14:2 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Drought, Famine, Sword, Pestilence
1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3And 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. …

1 Samuel 5:12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
Psalm 144:14 our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets.
Isaiah 3:26 The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Isaiah 24:11 In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
Jeremiah 4:28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back."
Jeremiah 8:21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.
Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.
Jeremiah 12:11 It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.
Jeremiah 46:12 The nations will hear of your shame; your cries will fill the earth. One warrior will stumble over another; both will fall down together."
Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.
Haggai 1:11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."
Zechariah 7:13 "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.