5 Everyone cheats his neighbor.No one speaks the truth.My people train their tongues to speak lies.They wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 Oppression follows oppression.Deceit follows deceit.They refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.
7 This is what the Lord of Armies says:I will now refine them with fire and test them.What else can I do for my dear people?
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.They speak deceitfully.People speak politely to their neighbors,but they think of ways to set traps for them.
9 I will punish them for these things, declares the Lord.I will punish this nation.I still won’t be satisfied.
10 I will cry and weep for the mountains.I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness.They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them.No one can hear the sound of cattle.Birds and cattle have fled.They are gone.
11 I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, a home for jackals.I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one can live there.