5:1 The Lord said, 1
“Go up and down 2 through the streets of Jerusalem. 3
Look around and see for yourselves.
Search through its public squares.
See if any of you can find a single person
who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. 4
If you can, 5 then I will not punish this city. 6
6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all of them practice deceit.
9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. 7
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation 8 of people that has been disloyal to him. 9
9:3 The Lord says, 10
“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. 11
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means. 12
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another 13
and do not pay attention to me. 14
9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.
He must not even trust any of his relatives. 15
For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. 16
And all of his friends will tell lies about him.
9:5 One friend deceives another
and no one tells the truth.
These people have trained themselves 17 to tell lies.
They do wrong and are unable to repent.
9:6 They do one act of violence after another,
and one deceitful thing after another. 18
They refuse to pay attention to me,” 19
says the Lord.
9:11 “All Israel has broken 20 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 21 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 22 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 23
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under 24 the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.