Jeremiah 8:13–22

¹³“ ‘I will take away their crops, says the Lord.

There will be no grapes on the vine

and no figs on the fig tree.

Even the leaves will dry up and die.

I will take away what I gave them.’ ”

¹⁴“Why are we just sitting here?

Let’s get together!

We have sinned against the Lord,

so he has given us poisoned water to drink.

Come, let’s run to the strong, walled cities.

The Lord our God has decided that we must die,

so let’s die there.

¹⁵We hoped to have peace,

but nothing good has come.

We hoped for a time when he would heal us,

but only terror has come.

¹⁶From the land of Dan,

the snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard.

The ground shakes from the neighing of their large horses.

They have come and destroyed

the land and everything in it,

the city and all who live there.”

¹⁷“Look! I am sending poisonous snakes to attack you.

These snakes cannot be charmed,

and they will bite you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Sadness

¹⁸God, you are my comfort when I am very sad

and when I am afraid.

¹⁹Listen to the sound of my people.

They cry from a faraway land:

“Isn’t the Lord still in Jerusalem?

Isn’t Jerusalem’s king still there?”

But God says, “Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols,

useless foreign idols?”

²⁰And the people say, “Harvest time is over;

summer has ended,

and we have not been saved.”

²¹Because my people are crushed, I am crushed.

I cry loudly and am afraid for them.

²²Isn’t there balm in the land of Gilead?

Isn’t there a doctor there?

So why aren’t the hurts of my people healed?