17. Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you.This is the Lord’s declaration.
18. My joy has flown away;grief has settled on me.My heart is sick.
19. Listen — the cry of my dear peoplefrom a far away land,“Is the Lord no longer in Zion, her King not within her? ”Why have they provoked me to angerwith their carved images,with their worthless foreign idols?
20. Harvest has passed, summer has ended,but we have not been saved.
21. I am broken by the brokennessof my dear people. I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?So why has the healing of my dear peoplenot come about?