Jeremiah 9:1-11

Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness A lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, That I might leave my people And go away from them! For they are all adulterers [worshiping idols instead of the LORD], [They are] an assembly of treacherous men [of weak character, men without integrity]. “They bend their tongue like their bow; [Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the LORD. “Let everyone beware of his neighbor And do not trust any brother. For every brother is a supplanter [like Jacob, a deceiver, ready to grab his brother’s heel], And every neighbor goes around as a slanderer. [Gen 25:26] “Everyone deceives and mocks his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They exhaust themselves with sin and cruelty. “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, I will refine them [through suffering] and test them; For how else should I deal with the daughter of My people? “Their tongue is a murderous arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But in his heart he lays traps and waits in ambush for him. “Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself On such a nation as this? ¶“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness, Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them]; Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone. “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt and dwelling place of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”