Jeremiah 9:4-12 - A Nation Characterized By Deceit

⁴ "Beware of your neighbors, and don't trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer. ⁵ People deceive their friends, and they don't tell the truth. They have taught their tongues to tell lies. They exhaust themselves practicing evil. ⁶ You yourself live in the midst of deception, and because they are deceived they do not know me," declares the LORD.

⁷ Therefore, this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Look, I'm about to refine and test them. Because they're my people, what else can I do? ⁸ Their tongue is a deadly arrow that speaks deceit. With his mouth a person says, "Peace,' to his friend, but inwardly he sets a trap for him. ⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?" asks the LORD, "and should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?"

¹⁰ I'll weep and mourn for the mountains, and lament for the desert pastures, because they are desolate and no one passes through them. They don't hear the lowing of the cattle. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They're gone! ¹¹ "I'll make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals. I'll make the towns of Judah desolate, without inhabitants."

¹² Who is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it?