Text -- Jeremiah 9:8 (NET)

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They are always telling lies. Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jer 9:8

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.”