Jeremiah 9:1-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

9 ^[a]O that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of the daughter of my people!^(A)
2 [b]O that I had in the desert
    a traveler’s lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
    a band of traitors.^(B)
3 They bend their tongues like bows;
    they have grown strong in the land for falsehood and not for truth,
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    and they do not know me, says the Lord.^(C)

⁴ Beware of your neighbors,
    and put no trust in any of your kin,
for all your kin are supplanters,
    and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.^(D)
5 They all deceive their neighbors,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
    they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.^[c](E)
6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit^[d] upon deceit!
    They refuse to know me, says the Lord.^(F)

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will now refine and test them,
    for what else can I do with the daughter of my people?^(G)
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceit through the mouth.
They all speak friendly words to their neighbors
    but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.^(H)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord,
    and shall I not bring retribution
    on a nation such as this?^(I)

¹⁰ Take up^[e] weeping and wailing for the mountains
    and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the animals
    have fled and are gone.^(J)
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a lair of jackals,
and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.^(K)