Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.
- KJV 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.
- BSB The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
- NASB “Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their containers empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads,
- NLT The nobles send servants to get water, but all the wells are dry. The servants return with empty pitchers, confused and desperate, covering their heads in grief.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The nobles send servants for water, but they return ashamed with empty vessels.
Overview
The drought spares no one; even the wealthy cannot secure water, and their servants return in shame. Covered heads signify dismay and humiliation at the failure to find life-sustaining water. The picture of empty vessels and unquenched thirst points to the deeper thirst only God can satisfy, fulfilled in Christ the living water (John 4:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 2 Sam 15:30David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
- Ps 40:14Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.
- Jer 2:13“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
- 2 Kgs 18:31Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern;
- Amos 4:8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 2:26–27As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;
- Jer 14:4Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land. The plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.
- 2 Sam 19:4The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!”
- Isa 45:16–17They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
- 1 Kgs 18:5–6Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”
- 1 Kgs 17:7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
- Ps 109:29Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
- Joel 1:20Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
- Jer 20:11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.
- Esth 6:12Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.
- Job 6:20They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 14:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.