Lord, don’t think of me\par as one of those bad people\par Those people greet their neighbors\par with the word “Shalom.” {\cf2\super [170]} \par But in their hearts they are planning\par bad things against their neighbors.\par
People come to visit me,\par but they don’t say\par what they are really thinking.\par They come just to get some news about me,\par Then they go and spread their rumors. {\cf2\super [257]} \par
Those people don’t tell the truth.\par They are liars that twist the truth.\par Their mouths are like empty {\cf2\super [27]} graves.\par They say nice things to other people,\par but they are only trying to trap them.\par
In spite of my important position,\par those people are planning to destroy me.\par It makes them happy\par to tell lies about me.\par In public, they say good things\par about me,\par but in private, they curse me.\par \i (SELAH {\cf2\super [366]})\i0 \par
So you must tell them these things: This is the nation that did not obey the Lord its God. These people did not listen to God’s teachings. These people don’t know the true teachings.
The people of Judah have tongues\par that are like sharp arrows.\par Their mouths speak lies.\par Each person speaks nice to his neighbor.\par But he is secretly planning ways\par to attack his neighbor.\par
Then the wind {\cf2\super [101]} lifted me into the air and brought me back to Babylonia. It brought me back to the people that were forced to leave Israel. I saw all of those things in the vision of God. Then \{the One I saw\} in the vision rose into the air and left me.
I mean, all of the faithful people are gone.\par There are no good people left\par in this country.\par Every person is waiting to kill someone.\par Every person is trying to trap his brother.\par
People like that are not serving our Lord Christ. They are only doing things to please themselves. They use fancy talk and say nice things to fool the people that don’t know about evil.
You know that we never tried to influence you by saying nice things about you. We were not trying to get your money. We had no greed to hide from you. God knows that this is true.