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

⁴ Take heed each one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. ⁵ And they will deceive each one his neighbour and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity. ⁶ Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

⁷ Therefore thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Behold, I will melt them and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? ⁸ Their tongue is as a sharp arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth but in heart he lays in wait. ⁹ Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ Upon the mountains I will lift up weeping and wailing and lamentation upon the habitations of the wilderness because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and even the beasts of the earth are fled; they are gone. ¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

¹² Who is the wise man that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken that he may declare for what cause the land perishes and is burned up like a wilderness that no one passes through?