² If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,^(A)
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,^(B)
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.^(C)

⁴ Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,^(E)
and every friend spread slander.^(F)
5 Each one betrays his friend;^(G)
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
⁶ You live in a world of deception.^[a](H)
In their deception they refuse to know me.^(I)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁸ Their tongues are deadly arrows—
they speak deception.^(A)
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.

¹³ Woe to them,^(A) for they fled from me;^(B)
destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!
Though I want to redeem them,^(C)
they speak lies against me.

I will not relent from punishing Judah^(A)
for three crimes, even four,
because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord^(B)
and have not kept his statutes.^(C)
The lies^(D) that their ancestors followed^(E)
have led them astray.