Their wine is snakes’ poison, the deadly venom of cobras.

He sucks the poison ¹  of serpents; ²  the fangs ³  of a viper ⁴  kill him.

He has besieged ¹  and surrounded ²  me with bitter hardship. ³ 

ז (Zayin) Remember ¹  my impoverished and homeless condition, ²  which is a bitter poison. ³ 

They put bitter poison ¹  into my food, and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink. ² 

For their vine is from the stock ¹  of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. ²  Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.

They ¹  utter empty words, ²  taking ³  false oaths and making empty ⁴  agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds ⁵  in the furrows of a plowed field.

So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ¹  say. ²  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³ 

Can horses run on rocky cliffs? Can one plow the sea with oxen? ¹  Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant, and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. ² 

The people say, ¹  “Why are we just sitting here? Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ²  Let us at least die there fighting, ³  since the Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁴  because we have sinned against him. ⁵ 

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹  have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ²  ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³  For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ⁴  that ungodliness ⁵  has spread throughout the land.’”

Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ¹