8:17 The Lord says, 1
“Yes indeed, 2 I am sending an enemy against you
that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away. 3
And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.” 4
8:18 Then I said, 5
“There is no cure 6 for my grief!
I am sick at heart!
8:19 I hear my dear people 7 crying out 8
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 9
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King 10 no longer there?’”
The Lord answers, 11
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?” 12
8:20 “They cry, 13 ‘Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over, 14
and still we have not been delivered.’
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people 15 are being crushed. 16
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. 17
8:22 There is still medicinal ointment 18 available in Gilead!
There is still a physician there! 19
Why then have my dear people 20
not been restored to health? 21