The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
Parallel translations
- WEB Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land. The plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.
- KJV Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
- NKJV Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads.
- NASB Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land. The farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads.
- NLT The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain. The farmers are deeply troubled; they, too, cover their heads.
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 drought is so severe that even the plowmen are ashamed, covering their heads in despair over the cracked, rainless ground. It shows how covenant disobedience brought God's promised judgment on the land itself.
Overview
Jeremiah describes a devastating drought in Judah, where the parched, fissured earth defeats the farmers who depend on it. In the covenant given through Moses, withheld rain was a sign of the LORD's discipline for unfaithfulness (Deuteronomy 28:23-24). The shame of the plowmen pictures a whole society confronted with its helplessness apart from God, who alone gives rain and harvest.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Joel 1:19–20To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.
- Joel 1:11Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
- Jer 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
- Deut 29:23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- Lev 26:19–20I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
- Joel 1:17The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
- Deut 28:23–24The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 14:4 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.