Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves ¹  with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, ² 

By his treachery ¹  he will succeed through deceit. ²  He will have an arrogant attitude, ³  and he will destroy many who are unaware of his schemes. ⁴  He will rise up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken apart – but not by human agency. ⁵ 

Moses said, “I am going to go out ¹  from you and pray to the Lord, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again ²  by not releasing ³  the people to sacrifice to the Lord.”

Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! ¹  I did not send them. I did not commission them. ²  I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, ³  and the delusions of their own mind.

People lie to one another; ¹  they flatter and deceive. ² 

Remove me from the path of deceit! ¹  Graciously give me ²  your law!

For this reason I carefully follow all your precepts. ¹  I hate all deceitful actions. ² 

Remove perverse speech ¹  from your mouth; ²  keep devious talk far from your lips. ³ 

The Lord abhors ¹  dishonest scales, ²  but an accurate weight ³  is his elight.

Speech ¹  that heals ²  is like ³  a life-giving tree, ⁴  but a perverse tongue ⁵  breaks the spirit.

The poor person and the oppressor ¹  have this in common: ²  the Lord gives light ³  to the eyes of them both.

Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! ¹  She is full of lies; ²  she is filled with plunder; ³  she has hoarded her spoil! ⁴ 

But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, ¹  deceiving others and being deceived themselves. ² 

and no lie was found on their lips; ¹  they ²  are blameless.

They ¹  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!” and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ²  Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages. ³ 

For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “You have rejected this message; ¹  you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ²  and rely on that kind of behavior. ³ 

“That is because, from the least important to the most important of them, all of them are greedy for dishonest gain. Prophets and priests alike, all of them practice deceit.

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 

Therefore you ¹  will have to say farewell ²  to Moresheth Gath. The residents ³  of Achzib ⁴  will be as disappointing as a dried up well ⁵  to the kings of Israel. ⁶ 

“Their throats are open graves, ¹  they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.” ²