Jeremiah 9:5–6

¹³Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

¹⁰Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.

¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

¹⁴And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

¹⁵Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

⁵For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

¹²For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

²⁵Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

¹²She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.

⁶They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.

⁷So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

¹²The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

¹³The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

¹⁴He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

¹⁸Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

³And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.

⁸Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.

³Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

³O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

¹⁶For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

³They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.

¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

³Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

¹⁴Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

¹¹And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

⁶¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

¹⁰This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

¹⁹But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

¹⁰¶ For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

⁵Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

¹⁴Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

²⁴¶ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

²⁹For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

³⁴Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

¹⁸¶ Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

²Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

³What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?

⁴Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

⁵Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

⁶My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.