17. The Lord says, “Yes indeed, I am sending an enemy against youthat will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away.And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.”
18. Then I said, “There is no cure for my grief!I am sick at heart!
19. I hear my dear people crying outthroughout the length and breadth of the land.They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?Is her divine King no longer there?’”The Lord answers, “Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,with their worthless foreign idols?”
20. “They cry, ‘Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over,and still we have not been delivered.’
21. My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed.I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.
22. There is still medicinal ointment available in Gilead!There is still a physician there!Why then have my dear peoplenot been restored to health?