[a](A)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are (B)adulterers,
An assembly of (C)treacherous people.
“They (D)bend their tongues like their bows;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they (E)proceed from evil to evil,
And they (F)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
“Let everyone (G)be on guard against his neighbor,
And (H)do not trust any brother;
Because every (I)brother utterly [b]betrays,
And every neighbor (J)goes about as a slanderer.
Everyone (K)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They (L)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
Your (M)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they (N)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb
  2. Jeremiah 9:4 I.e., like Jacob (a play on words)

Oh, that I had in the desert(A)
    a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
    and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,(B)
    a crowd of unfaithful(C) people.

“They make ready their tongue
    like a bow, to shoot lies;(D)
it is not by truth
    that they triumph[a] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
    they do not acknowledge(E) me,”
declares the Lord.
“Beware of your friends;(F)
    do not trust anyone in your clan.(G)
For every one of them is a deceiver,[b](H)
    and every friend a slanderer.(I)
Friend deceives friend,(J)
    and no one speaks the truth.(K)
They have taught their tongues to lie;(L)
    they weary themselves with sinning.
You[c] live in the midst of deception;(M)
    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
  2. Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
  3. Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)

Their (A)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one (B)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he (C)sets an ambush for him.

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Their tongue(A) is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,(B)
    but in their hearts they set traps(C) for them.(D)

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13 (A)Woe to them, for they have (B)strayed from Me!
Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!
I (C)would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.

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13 Woe(A) to them,
    because they have strayed(B) from me!
Destruction to them,
    because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
    but they speak about me(C) falsely.(D)

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Judgment on Judah

This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (A)Judah, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they (B)rejected the Law of the Lord
And have not kept His statutes;
Their [a](C)lies also have led them astray,
Those which their (D)fathers followed.

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 2:4 Or false gods

This is what the Lord says:

“For three sins of Judah,(A)
    even for four, I will not relent.
Because they have rejected the law(B) of the Lord
    and have not kept his decrees,(C)
because they have been led astray(D) by false gods,[a](E)
    the gods[b] their ancestors followed,(F)

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 2:4 Or by lies
  2. Amos 2:4 Or lies