[a] Oh that I had in the desert
    a travelers' lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all (A)adulterers,
    a company of (B)treacherous men.
(C)They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong[b] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    (D)and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

(E)Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
    and put no trust in any brother,
for every (F)brother is a deceiver,
    and every neighbor (G)goes about as a slanderer.
Everyone deceives his neighbor,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
    they weary themselves committing iniquity.
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
    (H)they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew
  2. Jeremiah 9:3 Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong

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)