His words are as smooth as butter, ¹  but he harbors animosity in his heart. ²  His words seem softer than oil, but they are really like sharp swords. ³ 

So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? ¹  And what advantage ²  does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? ³ 

Is this really your boisterous city ¹  whose origins are in the distant past, ²  and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

O Lord, you make us secure, ¹  for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. ² 

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ¹  Do you really think you will be rescued? ² 

They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ² 

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

He was led away after an unjust trial ¹  – but who even cared? ²  Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ³  because of the rebellion of his own ⁴  people he was wounded.

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, ¹  for a god that cannot help them at all! ² 

“If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord, “if you want to come back to me ¹  you must get those disgusting idols ²  out of my sight and must no longer go astray. ³ 

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

You steal. ¹  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ²  other gods whom you have not previously known.

How can you say, “We are wise! We have the law of the Lord”? The truth is, ¹  those who teach it ²  have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean. ³ 

Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. ¹  Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. ¹  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

“Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. ¹  “Do you not know that I am everywhere?” ²  the Lord asks. ³ 

So, now the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have not listened to me. But ²  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ³  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

So if a prophet prophesied ¹  peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”