John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 14

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the
dearth .
] Or, "concerning the words of straints" ^F24 ; that is, concerning the businesses of a drought, as the Targum; concerning the Lord's restraining rain from the earth, and forbidding the heavens dropping it down; the consequence of which is a drought, or dryness of the earth; and the effect of that a famine.

When this was it is not anywhere said; it could not be the famine at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, because that only affected the city; this all Judea. Some think it was in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, long before the siege; and others, that it was in the reign of Jehoiakim, since we read of a fast in his time, (Jeremiah 36:9) , which might be on this occasion; and it appears that there was one at this time, though not acceptable to God; see (Jeremiah 14:12) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: (twrubh yrbd le) "super verbis, cohibitionum", Junius & Tremellius; "retentionum"; Tigurine version; "prohibitionum", Pagninus, Montanus.

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 of which 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 to 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) (5:10) , 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.

And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters ,
&c.] To places where water used to be; to the pools, the upper and the lower, particularly to the fountain of Shiloah, which, Jerom says, was the only one the city of Jerusalem used. The meaning either is, that the nobles in Jerusalem sent their own children to get water for them, they having no servants to attend them, these being put away because they could not support them, the famine being so sore; or rather that they sent their menial servants, their subjects, as the Targum renders it, to fetch them a little water to refresh themselves with:

they came to the pits and found no water ;
their servants came according to order to the pools and cisterns, or to the deep wells, and to such places where there used to be a great confluence of water, and plenty of it, but now they could find none:

they returned with their vessels empty ;
just as they came:

they were ashamed and confounded ;
either the servants that were sent, or rather their masters that sent them, when they saw them come with their empty vessels; having been looking out and longing for their return, expecting they would have brought water with them for their refreshment; but to their great disappointment and confusion brought none:

and covered their heads ;
as persons ashamed, or as mourners used to do, being full of anguish and distress because of the drought.

Because the ground is chapt
Through the violent heat of the sun, and want of rain; or, is broken ^F25 ; and crumbles into dust.

The Targum is, "because of sins, the inhabitants of the earth are broken:"

for there was no rain in the earth ;
this was the reason of the dearth, and of the famine, and why there was no water in the pits, and the ground was parched. It is to be understood of the land of Judea only, not of the whole earth:

the ploughmen were ashamed ;
because they could not work the earth with their plough; were obliged to sit still, could do no work, or go on with their husbandry; nothing could be done for want of rain: they covered their heads; as before; (See Gill on Jeremiah 14:3).

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: (htx) "confracta", Schmidt; "attritam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Yea, the hind also calved in the field
Or brought forth her young in the field; of which see (Job 39:1–4), and which they sometimes did through fear, particularly when frightened with thunder and lightning; and which are common in a time of heat and drought, which is the case here; see (Psalms 29:9)

of these sort of creatures there were great plenty in Judea and the parts adjacent. Aelianus ^F26 says, the harts in Syria are bred on the highest mountains, Amanus, Lebanon, and Carmel; which were mountains on the borders of the land of Canaan; and the flesh of these was much used for food by the Jews; see (Deuteronomy 12:15Deuteronomy 12:22) (Deuteronomy 14:4Deuteronomy 14:5) (15:22):

and forsook it ;
which, as it is a loving creature to its mate, so very careful of its young, and provident for it, and nourishes it, as Pliny observes. The reason of such uncommon usage follows: because there was no grass ;
for the hind to feed upon, and so had no milk to suckle its young with; and therefore left it to seek
for grass elsewhere, that it might have food for itself, and milk for its young.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: De Anima. l. 5. c. 56.
• F1: Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 32.