13. When I would gather them, declares the Lord,there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered,and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
14. Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified citiesand perish there,for the Lord our God has doomed us to perishand has given us poisoned water to drink,because we have sinned against the Lord.
15. We looked for peace, but no good came;for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16. “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes.They come and devour the land and all that fills it,the city and those who dwell in it.
17. For behold, I am sending among you serpents,adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,”declares the Lord.
18. My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.
19. Behold, the cry of the daughter of my peoplefrom the length and breadth of the land:“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved imagesand with their foreign idols?”
20. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,and we are not saved.”
21. For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22. Is there no balm in Gilead?Is there no physician there?Why then has the health of the daughter of my peoplenot been restored?