And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB Everyone will deceive their neighbors, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves commiting iniquity.
- BSB Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
- NKJV Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
- NASB “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
- NLT They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Everyone deceives and refuses to speak truth, having trained their tongues to lie until exhausted by sin. Deception has become a wearisome way of life.
Overview
The people are so practiced in falsehood that lying is second nature, and they 'weary themselves' committing iniquity. The picture is of a community enslaved to deceit, expending real effort in doing evil. The verse reveals the exhausting bondage of sin and the futility of a life devoted to falsehood, contrasting with the rest and freedom found in the truth of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Job 15:5For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
- Mic 6:12For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
- Isa 57:10Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.
- Isa 59:13–15In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Hab 2:13Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
- Job 11:3Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
- 1 Tim 4:2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
- Isa 5:18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
- Ps 50:19Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
- Ps 64:3Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
- Ps 140:3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.
- Isa 41:6–7They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
- Isa 44:12–14The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
- Jer 9:8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
- Ps 7:14Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
- Prov 4:16For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
- Eph 4:25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
- Ezek 24:12She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
- Jer 9:3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
- Mic 6:3O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
- Gen 19:11And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 9:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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