Oh, that my head were a spring of water

and my eyes a fountain of tears!g

I would weeph day and night

for the slain of my people.i

2 Oh, that I had in the desertj

a lodging place for travelers,

so that I might leave my people

and go away from them;

for they are all adulterers,k

a crowd of unfaithfull people.

3 “They make ready their tongue

like a bow, to shoot lies;m

it is not by truth

that they triumphb in the land.

They go from one sin to another;

they do not acknowledgen me,”

declares the Lord.

4 “Beware of your friends;o

do not trust anyone in your clan.p

For every one of them is a deceiver,c q

and every friend a slanderer.r

5 Friend deceives friend,s

and no one speaks the truth.t

They have taught their tongues to lie;u

they weary themselves with sinning.

6 Youd live in the midst of deception;v

in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”

declares the Lord.

7 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refinew and testx them,

for what else can I do

because of the sin of my people?

8 Their tonguey is a deadly arrow;

it speaks deceitfully.

With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,z

but in their hearts they set trapsa for them.b

9 Should I not punish them for this?”

declares the Lord.

“Should I not avengec myself

on such a nation as this?”

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains

and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.d

They are desolate and untraveled,

and the lowing of cattle is not heard.

The birdse have all fled

and the animals are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem a heapf of ruins,

a haunt of jackals;g

and I will lay waste the towns of Judahh

so no one can live there.”i