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

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

“Why have they aroused^(F) my anger with their images,
    with their worthless^(G) foreign idols?”^(H)

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

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