⁴     I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
    I would march against them in battle;
    I would set them all on fire.^(A)

²⁰ Woe^(A) to those who call evil good^(B)
    and good evil,^(C)
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,^(D)
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.^(E)

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes^(F)
    and clever in their own sight.

²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe,^(A)
    but deny justice^(B) to the innocent.^(C)
24 Therefore, as tongues of fire^(D) lick up straw^(E)
    and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay^(F)
    and their flowers blow away like dust;^(G)
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
    and spurned the word^(H) of the Holy One^(I) of Israel.
²⁵ Therefore the Lord’s anger^(J) burns against his people;
    his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,^(K)
    and the dead bodies^(L) are like refuse^(M) in the streets.^(N)

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,^(O)
    his hand is still upraised.^(P)

²⁴ Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    the Mighty One^(A) of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes
    and avenge^(B) myself on my enemies.^(C)
25 I will turn my hand against you;^[a](D)
    I will thoroughly purge^(E) away your dross^(F)
    and remove all your impurities.^(G)

²⁷ “I have made you a tester^(A) of metals
    and my people the ore,
that you may observe
    and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,^(B)
    going about to slander.^(C)
They are bronze and iron;^(D)
    they all act corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
    to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining^(E) goes on in vain;
    the wicked are not purged out.
³⁰ They are called rejected silver,^(F)
    because the Lord has rejected them.”^(G)