Jeremiah 9:1-11

I wish my head were like a spring of water and my eyes like a fountain of tears! Then I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed. I wish I had a place in the desert— a house where travelers spend the night— so I could leave my people. I could go away from them, because they are all unfaithful to God; they are all turning against him. “They use their tongues like a bow, shooting lies from their mouths like arrows. Lies, not truth, have grown strong in the land. They go from one evil thing to another. They do not know who I am,” says the LORD. “Watch out for your friends, and don’t trust your own relatives, because every relative is a cheater, and every friend tells lies about you. Everyone lies to his friend, and no one speaks the truth. The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie. They have become tired from sinning. Jeremiah, you live in the middle of lies. With their lies the people refuse to know me,” says the LORD. So this is what the LORD All-Powerful says: “I will test the people of Judah as a person tests metal in a fire. I have no other choice, because my people have sinned. Their tongues are like sharp arrows. Their mouths speak lies. Everyone speaks nicely to his neighbor, but he is secretly planning to attack him. Shouldn’t I punish the people for doing this?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t I give a nation like this the punishment it deserves?” I, Jeremiah, will cry loudly for the mountains and sing a funeral song for the empty fields. They are empty, and no one passes through. The mooing of cattle cannot be heard. The birds have flown away, and the animals are gone. “I, the LORD, will make the city of Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a home for wild dogs. I will destroy the cities of Judah so no one can live there.”