⁴ 
“I have no wrath.
Should anyone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
I would step on them, I would set them all on fire.

²⁰ 
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
²¹ 
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever and shrewd in their own sight!

²³ 
Who justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe,
And take away the rights of those who are in the right!

²⁴ 
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵ 
Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.
And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

²⁴ 
Therefore the Lord God of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will be freed of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My enemies.
²⁵ 
“And I will turn My hand against you,
And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye
And remove all your tin (impurity).

²⁷ 
“I [the Lord] have set you as an assayer [O Jeremiah] and as a tester [of the ore] of My people,
That you may know and analyze their acts.”
²⁸ 
They are all the worst [kind] of [stiff-necked, godless] rebels,
Going around spreading slander.
They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron;
They are all corrupt.
²⁹ 
The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain they continue refining,
But the wicked are not separated and removed.
³⁰ 
They call them rejected silver [only dross, without value],
Because the Lord has rejected them.