19-22 When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
    Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
    get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
    People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
    they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
    cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
    up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
    They end up in the dark with nothing.

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21 Distressed and hungry,(A) they will roam through the land;(B) when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse(C) their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom,(D) and they will be thrust into utter darkness.(E)

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