Jeremiah 9:2–9

²Oh that I had^c in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers,

that I may leave my people and go from them,

for all of them are adulterers,

a band of traitors.

³And they bend their tongue like their bow,

for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land,

for they go forth^d from evil to evil,

and they do not know me,” declares^e Yahweh.

A Nation Characterized by Deceit

⁴“Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor,

and you must not trust in any brother,

for everyone surely betrays,

and every neighbor goes about with slander.

⁵And everyone deceives his neighbor,

and they do not speak the truth,

they have taught their tongues^f to speak lies,^g

they are tired from going astray.

⁶Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit,

upon^h deceit they refuse to know me,” declaresⁱ Yahweh.

⁷Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Look, I am about to refine them,

and I will test them,

for what else can I do,

because of the presence^j of the daughter of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a murderous arrow,

it speaks deceit.

With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor,

but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.

⁹Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares^k Yahweh,

“On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?