Jeremiah 8:17

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, reptiles of a most poisonous kind, which will not be charmed, rendered harmless by soothing music, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. The Chaldeans are here represented as cruel and destructive enemies, whose power no means could counteract. With this fate of his beloved nation before his eyes, the prophet breaks forth in a bitter lamentation.