Jeremiah 9:4

4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver,^[a]and every friend a slanderer.

Jeremiah 9:4 in Other Translations

4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

4 “Beware of your neighbor! Don’t even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend.

4 "Be wary of even longtime neighbors. Don't even trust your grandmother! Brother schemes against brother, like old cheating Jacob. Friend against friend spreads malicious gossip.

4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.

Jeremiah 9:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:4

Take ye heed everyone of his neighbour
Take care of being imposed upon by them, since they are so given to lying and deceit; be not too credulous, or too easily believe what is said; or keep yourselves from them; have no company or conversation with them, since evil communications corrupt good manners: and trust ye not in any brother;
whether by blood or by marriage, or by religion, believe not his words; trust him not, neither with your money, nor with your mind; commit not your secrets to him, place no confidence in him; a people must be very corrupt indeed when this is the case: or, "trust ye not in every brother" ^F18; some may be trusted, but not all though the following clause seems to contradict this, for every brother will utterly supplant;
or, in supplanting supplant {s}; play the Jacob, do as he did by his brother, who supplanted him twice; first got the birthright from him, and then the blessing; which was presignified by taking his brother by the heel in the womb, from whence he had his name; and the same word is here used, which signifies a secret, clandestine, and insidious way of circumventing another; and every neighbour will walk with slanders;
go about spreading lies and calumnies, as worshippers, backbiters, and tale bearers do. The word (lykd) is used for a "merchant"; and because such persons went from place to place with their goods, and made use often times of fraudulent practices to deceive people, it is applied to one that is guilty of slander and calumny; ( Song of Solomon 3:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (wxjbt la xa lk lew) "et omni fratri ne fidatis", Paganinus.
F19 (bqey bwqe) "supplantanto supplantat", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 9:4 In-Context

2 Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

3 “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver,and every friend a slanderer.

5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.

6 You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Samuel 15:12
• 2. Micah 7:5-6
• 3. S Genesis 27:35
• 4. S Exodus 20:16; S Leviticus 19:16

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "a deceiving Jacob"