Jeremiah 8:17
“For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.”
We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
Counter-Arguments
The strongest case that this verse does not belong in this theme.
Cross-References
“Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.”
“And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.”
“Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”
“At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”
“Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;”