³ Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
    but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
    but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
    they have refused to repent.

³⁰ “I have punished your children,
    but they did not respond to my discipline.
You yourselves have killed your prophets
    as a lion kills its prey.

⁷ I thought, ‘Surely they will have reverence for me now!
    Surely they will listen to my warnings.
Then I won’t need to strike again,
    destroying their homes.’
But no, they get up early
    to continue their evil deeds.

¹³ For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
    They will not seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

²⁵ Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
    and destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
    but they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by fire,
    but they did not learn their lesson.

⁴ But the Lord is in his holy Temple;
    the Lord still rules from heaven.
He watches everyone closely,
    examining every person on earth.
⁵ The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.
    He hates those who love violence.
⁶ He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked,
    punishing them with scorching winds.
⁷ For the righteous Lord loves justice.
    The virtuous will see his face.