Jeremiah 9:3

3 They are always ready to tell lies; dishonesty instead of truth rules the land. The Lord says, "My people do one evil thing after another and do not acknowledge me as their God."

Jeremiah 9:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:3

And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies
Their tongues were like bows, and their lying words like arrows, which they directed against persons to their injury; see ( Psalms 11:2 ) ( 64:3 ) , or, "like their deceitful bow" ^F16; to which the Targum agrees,

``they teach their tongues words of falsehood, they are like to a deceitful bow.''

Most agreeably to the accents the words may be rendered, "they bend their tongues, their bow is a lie" ^F17; either deceitful, or carries a lie in it, and shoots one out of it: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth;
which a man should do everything for, and nothing against; and which he should earnestly contend for, and not part with or give up at any rate; not only for the truth of doctrine, for faith, as the Targum; for the doctrine of faith, the truth of the Gospel, and as it is in Christ; but for truth between man and man, for veracity, rightness, and integrity: for they proceed from evil to evil; from one sin to another, growing worse and worse, as wicked men and deceivers usually do. Kimchi observes, it may be interpreted, as of evil works, so of the evil of punishment, from one evil of the enemy to another; or this year they are smitten with blasting, another with mildew, or with the locust, and yet they turn not from their evil ways: and they know not me, saith the Lord;
the God of truth, and without iniquity, and who will severely punish for it; they did not serve and worship him as the only Lord God. The Targum is,

``the knowledge of my fear they learned not.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 (rqv Mtvq) "veluti acum falsum", Munster; "quasi arcum mendacii", V. L.
F17 "Et tetenderunt linguam suam, arcus ipsorum mendacium est", De Dieu; "qui tendunt linguam suam, arcus eorum est mendacium", Schmidt. Approved by Reinbeck. De Accent. Heb. p. 437.

Jeremiah 9:3 In-Context

1 I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.

2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert where I could get away from my people. They are all unfaithful, a mob of traitors.

3 They are always ready to tell lies; dishonesty instead of truth rules the land. The Lord says, "My people do one evil thing after another and do not acknowledge me as their God."

4 Everyone must be on guard against their friends, and no one can trust their relatives; for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob, and everyone slanders their friends.

5 They all mislead their friends, and no one tells the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie and will not give up their sinning. They do one violent thing after another, and one deceitful act follows another. The Lord says that his people reject him.