“Lord, Lord, how the world is given to lying.”

Shakespeare did not have Joe Biden in mind when he wrote that line for “Henry IV, Part 1.”

But he could have were he around today.

Because when it comes to Biden and his pardoning his son Hunter, the line fits perfectly.

Biden has lied so much about Hunter Biden (“He is the smartest man I know.”) that he would not know the truth if it walked up and bit him in his leg.

And one lie has led to another in a web of lies or, to quote Sir Walter Scott: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

After vowing on ten or more occasions that he would in no way pardon Hunter, Joe Biden did exactly that on Sunday and then flew off to Africa to avoid answering questions.

Not that reporters or the public would get any clear answers from him or from Karine Jean-Pierre, his press secretary, in the first place. She has also repeatedly lied about the matter along with her boss. “The answer is no,” she said as recently as last month in response to a question about pardoning Hunter.

Perhaps Biden lied to her too before she began lying to the press.

How refreshingly honest it would have been if Biden, on the way out the door, had simply said, “Hunter made mistakes. He has atoned for them. He has changed, has a family and is free of drugs. He is my son. I love him. I lost one son and do not want to lose another. So, I am pardoning him.”

People may not have liked it, but they would have understood it and even sympathized with the president.

Instead, he lied to the American people, pretending that Hunter Biden was targeted simply because he was Joe Biden’s son, and not the rogue, crack-addicted deadbeat who roamed the world shaking down countries for the Biden family’s gain.

But Biden cannot help himself because he is caught in a web of deception.

Biden even lied again in the first paragraph of his pardon statement when he said he promised on day one not to “interfere” with the decision making of the Justice Department and then did just that by issuing the pardon.

Biden justified his interference by charging that Hunter, who faced serious prison time, was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” because he was the president’s son.

Biden got it backwards. The fact of the matter is that Hunter, the bag man for the Biden family, escaped prosecution for years because the was the president’s son.

And the Justice Department under attorney general Merrick Garland went all out to slow walk the more serious charges against Hunter Biden until the statute of limitations on them expired.

Hunter was an influence peddler who used Joe Biden’s name and office to wrest millions of dollars from China, Ukraine and elsewhere that went into the Biden family coffers.

And all the while Joe Biden falsely claimed he knew nothing about Hunter Biden’s business dealings as the cash rolled in.

Joe Biden even had the audacity to downplay the crimes Hunter was convicted of, both of which are felonies — illegally obtaining a gun, and failure to pay taxes on millions of dollars in income over several years. Were it not for the pardon, Hunter faced serious prison time.

“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” Joe Biden said. Indeed, he was; he got a pardon.

But not only did Joe Biden pardon Hunter for those crimes, the sweeping pardon he issued covers crimes Hunter Biden may or may not have committed over a 10-year period beginning on Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.

This in effect also shelters Joe Biden from any further investigation into Hunter Biden’s business wheeling and dealing that could implicate him and other members of the Biden family.

But to be even more safe, Joe Biden before leaving office will probably grant himself a sweeping pardon.

Biden concluded his Hunter Biden statement with this: “For my entire career, I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth.”

That was the biggest lie of all.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com