They were unfaithful ¹  and acted as treacherously as ²  their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow. ³ 

An unreliable ¹  messenger falls ²  into trouble, ³  but a faithful envoy ⁴  brings ⁵  healing.

My brothers ¹  have been as treacherous ²  as a seasonal stream, ³  and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams ⁴  that flow away. ⁵ 

You despise ¹  all who stray from your statutes, for they are deceptive and unreliable. ² 

Like a bad tooth or a foot out of joint, ¹  so is confidence ²  in an unfaithful person at the time of trouble. ³ 

since he is a double-minded individual, ¹  unstable in all his ways.

Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?” ¹ 

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ¹  the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

They turn to Baal; ¹  they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal ²  have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ³ 

Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!