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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.

Judah’s Failures

“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.

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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)

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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