“Why do we sit still?
Gather together!
Let us go into the fortified cities!
We will perish there!
Yahweh our God
Has doomed us to perish.
He has given us poisoned water to drink.
Because we have sinned against Yahweh.
We look for peace.
But we find no good.
We look for a time of healing,
But there is terror instead.”
Here Jeremiah presents the views of the people of Judah. They were sitting together, before they went to their fortified cities. There they expected to perish because Yahweh had doomed them to die. He gave them poisoned water to drink, which was the wrath of God. They finally admitted that they had sinned against Yahweh. They wanted peace, but there was none. They looked for healing, but there was only terror instead.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 