Jeremiah employs this term to describe seasons of severe drought that bring agricultural crisis and human distress. The word captures not just lack of rain but the resulting condition of the land—parched fields, failed crops, desperate thirst. In one passage it appears in the plural, suggesting repeated or multiple drought periods that became occasions for national lament. The prophet contrasts those who trust in man (who wither in drought) with those who trust in God (who remain green even 'in the year of drought'), making the physical reality a metaphor for spiritual resources.