Jeremiah 9:2–9

^2jO that I had in the desert

a traveler’s lodging place,

that I might leave my people

and go away from them!

For they are all adulterers,

a band of traitors.^*

³They bend their tongues like bows;

they have grown strong in the land for falsehood and not for truth,

for they proceed from evil to evil,

and they do not know me, says the Lord.^*

⁴Beware of your neighbors,

and put no trust in any of your kin,

for all your kin are supplanters,

and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.^*

⁵They all deceive their neighbors,

and no one speaks the truth;

they have taught their tongues to speak lies;

they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.^k*

⁶Oppression upon oppression, deceit^l upon deceit!

They refuse to know me, says the Lord.^*

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

I will now refine and test them,

for what else can I do with the daughter of my people?^*

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow;

it speaks deceit through the mouth.

They all speak friendly words to their neighbors

but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.^*

⁹Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord,

and shall I not bring retribution

on a nation such as this?^*