14 Why are we sitting here?Come, let’s go to the fortified townsand meet our doom there.The Lord our God has doomed usby giving us poisoned water to drink,because we have sinned against the Lord!
15 We longed for relief,but received none;for a time of healing,but found only terror.
16 The snorting of their horses can be heard as far as Dan;the neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble.They come to devour the land and everything in it,towns and people alike.
17 See, I’m sending serpents against you,vipers that you can’t charm,and they will bite you,declares the Lord.
18 No healing,only grief;my heart is broken.
19 Listen to the weeping of my peopleall across the land:"Isn’t the Lord in Zion?Is her king no longer there?"Why then did they anger me with their images,with pointless foreign gods?
20 "The harvest is past,the summer has ended,yet we aren’t saved."