¹⁴ Why are we sitting here?
    Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities^(A)
    and perish there!
For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and given us poisoned water^(B) to drink,
    because we have sinned^(C) against him.
¹⁵ We hoped for peace^(D)
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.^(E)
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses^(F)
    is heard from Dan;^(G)
at the neighing of their stallions
    the whole land trembles.^(H)
They have come to devour^(I)
    the land and everything in it,
    the city and all who live there.

¹⁷ “See, I will send venomous snakes^(J) among you,
    vipers that cannot be charmed,^(K)
    and they will bite you,”
declares the Lord.

¹⁸ You who are my Comforter^[a] in sorrow,
    my heart is faint^(L) within me.
¹⁹ Listen to the cry of my people
    from a land far away:^(M)
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    Is her King^(N) no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused^(O) my anger with their images,
    with their worthless^(P) foreign idols?”^(Q)

²⁰ “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
    and we are not saved.”

²¹ Since my people are crushed,^(R) I am crushed;
    I mourn,^(S) and horror grips me.
²² Is there no balm in Gilead?^(T)
    Is there no physician^(U) there?
Why then is there no healing^(V)
    for the wound of my people?