5Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.
6There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.
7So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.
8His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.
9Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
10Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.
11And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.
