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 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, 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 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.