Jeremiah 9:8

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

2Sa 3:27; 2Sa 20:9,10; Ps 12:2; Ps 28:3; Ps 55:21; Ps 57:4; Ps 64:3,4,8; Ps 120:3; Pr 26:24-26; Jer 9:3,5; Mt 26:48,49

¹ tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.

² tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

³ tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”