LEB JER section

A Nation Characterized by Deceit

4 “Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor, and you must not trust in any brother,

for everyone surely betrays,
- and every neighbor goes about with slander.
- 5 And everyone deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth,
they have taught their tongues[fn] to speak lies,[fn]
- they are tired from going astray.
- 6 Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, upon[fn] deceit they refuse to know me,” declares[fn] Yahweh.

7 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Look, I am about to refine them,
- and I will test them,
for what else can I do,
- because of the presence[fn] of the daughter of my people?
- 8 Their tongue is a murderous arrow, it speaks deceit.
With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor,
- but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.
9 Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares[fn] Yahweh, “On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?
- 10 For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the desert a lament,
because they are laid waste so that no man passes through.
- And the sounds[fn] of cattle are not heard,
from the birds[fn] of heaven to the animals[fn]
- they have fled, they are gone.
- 11 And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, without inhabitants .[fn]
- 12 Who is the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it?
Why is the land destroyed?
- It is laid waste like the desert[fn] so that no one passes through.”

9:? Hebrew “tongue”

9:? Hebrew “lie”

9:? Or “through”

9:? Literally “a declaration of”

9:7 Literally “faces”

9:7 Literally “a declaration of”

9:7 Hebrew “sound”

9:7 Hebrew “bird”

9:7 Hebrew “animal”

9:7 Literally “from no inhabitant”

9:7 Or “wilderness”

LEB by section JER 9:4