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Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all 1adulterers, a company of 2treacherous men.
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3They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, 4and they do not know me, declares the LORD.
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5Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every 6brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor 7goes about as a slanderer.
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Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.
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Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, 8they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.
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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, 9I will refine them and 10test them, for what else can I do, 11because of my people?
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12Their tongue is a deadly arrow; 13it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth 14each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart 15he plans an ambush for him.
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16Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
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"I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for 17the pastures of the wilderness, 18because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; 19both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.
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20I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, 21a lair of jackals, 22and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."
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23Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined 24and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
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And the LORD says: 25"Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it,
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but 26have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.
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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 27Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them 28poisonous water to drink.
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29I will scatter them among the nations 30whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will 31send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."
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Thus says the LORD of hosts: 32"Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;
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let them make haste 33and raise a wailing over us, 34that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
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For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 35'How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"
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Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.
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For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, 36cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.
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Speak, "Thus declares the LORD: 37'The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, 38like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them.'"