Jer 9:2-9 | ESV | STEP | 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 adulterers , a company of treacherous men .

Jeremiah 9:2-9

2 ^{▼▼Ch 9:1 in Hebrew} 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 ^badulterers,
a company of ^ctreacherous men.
3 ^dThey bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong} in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
^fand they do not know me, declares the Lord.
4 ^gLet everyone beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^hbrother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor ⁱgoes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
^jthey refuse to know me, declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^kI will refine them and ^ltest them,
for what else can I do, ^mbecause of my people?
8 ⁿTheir tongue is a deadly arrow;
^oit speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^peach speaks peace to his neighbor,
but in his heart ^qhe plans an ambush for him.
9 ^rShall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?