Jeremiah 8:14-22

14The people say, “Why are we just sitting here? Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. Let us at least die there fighting, since the Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment because we have sinned against him.

15We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it. We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror.

16The snorting of the enemy’s horses is already being heard in the city of Dan. The sound of the neighing of their stallions causes the whole land to tremble with fear. They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it! They are coming to destroy the cities and everyone who lives in them!”

17The Lord says, “Yes indeed, I am sending an enemy against you that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away. And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.”

18Then I said, “There is no cure for my grief! I am sick at heart!

19I hear my dear people crying out throughout 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.’

21My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.

22There is still medicinal ointment available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! Why then have my dear people not been restored to health?