Fruitlessness and Poisonous Serpents Close In

Vines and fig trees fail, and gall water is drunk in silence

I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Fruitlessness and poisoned water portray collapsed security. Poison images are judgment speech, not instructions for harm or explanations for ordinary illness. Flight to fortified towns is panic, not a military manual.

Horses from Dan and uncharmable serpents close in

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.

Serpents that will not be charmed mean a threat that cannot be managed by usual means. They are not a diagnosis of disease, and Dan's horses are not a modern northern army.