Jeremiah 9:
1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
    for the slain of my people.
2 Oh, that I had in the desert
    a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
    and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
    a crowd of unfaithful people.

3 “They make ready their tongue
    like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
    that they triumph[b] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
    they do not acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Beware of your friends;
    do not trust anyone in your clan.
For every one of them is a deceiver,[c]
    and every friend a slanderer.
5 Friend deceives friend,
    and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
    they weary themselves with sinning.
6 You[d] live in the midst of deception;
    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.

7 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refine and test them,
    for what else can I do
    because of the sin of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,
    but in their hearts they set traps for them.
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself
    on such a nation as this?”

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
    so no one can live there.”