Jeremiah 14:22
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
Study Note
Study Note
Jeremiah's climactic confession — 'art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things' — answers the drought crisis of chapter 14 by rejecting the futility of Gentile idols and affirming Yahweh's sole sovereignty over nature's provision. The rhetorical questions ('are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain?') echo Elijah's contest on Carmel (1 Kings 18) and the polemic of Isaiah 44-46 against idols that cannot speak or act. The phrase 'we will wait upon thee' introduces the posture of patient dependence on God even when creation's resources fail — a stance that anticipates Isaiah 40:31's 'they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.' The verse has been used in Christian spiritual direction to model how communal crisis can become the occasion for renewed theological clarity.
Other Translations
Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Jehovah our God? therefore we will wait for thee; for thou hast made all these things.
Are there among the vanities of the nations any causing rain? And do the heavens give showers? Art not Thou He, O Jehovah our God? And we wait for thee, for Thou--Thou hast done all these!
Are any of the false gods of the nations able to make rain come? are the heavens able to give showers? are you not he, O Lord our God? so we will go on waiting for you, for you have done all these things.
Cross References
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And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third …
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the …
And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there …
Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;