Jeremiah 8:13-22

New King James Version

¹³“I will surely ^[a]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be ^(A)on the vine,
Nor figs on the ^(B)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall ^(C)pass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴“Why do we sit still?
^(D)Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the Lord our God has put us to silence
And given us ^(E)water^[b] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵“We ^(F)looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
¹⁶The snorting of His horses was heard from ^(G)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^(H)strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”

¹⁷“For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be ^(I)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

The Prophet Mourns for the People

¹⁸I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
¹⁹Listen! The voice,
The cry of the daughter of my people
From ^(J)a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger
With their carved images—
With foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past,
The summer is ended,
And we are not saved!”

²¹^(K)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am ^(L)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
²²Is there no ^(M)balm in Gilead,
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?