Jeremiah 9:4-12 - A Nation Characterized By Deceit
4 Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor. Do not trust any brother because every brother deals craftily (cunningly), and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 5 Everyone deceives his neighbor and does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They wear themselves out committing sin. 6 You live in the middle of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to know me, says Jehovah.
7 Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: Behold, I will refine them and assay them. What else can I do, because of the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit! With the mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but inwardly he sets an ambush for him. 9 I will punish them for these things, declares Jehovah. I will punish this nation and I will not be satisfied.
10 I will cry and weep for the mountains. I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness. They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them. No one can hear the sound of cattle. Birds and cattle have fled. They are gone. 11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. It will be a gathering place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolation, without inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken? Let him declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?