For your hands are stained with blood,(A)
    your fingers with guilt.(B)
Your lips have spoken falsely,(C)
    and your tongue mutters wicked things.

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

Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refine(K) and test(L) them,
    for what else can I do
    because of the sin of my people?
Their tongue(M) is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,(N)
    but in their hearts they set traps(O) for them.(P)

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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)

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