20. What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices.
21. And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbours.”
22. The Lord says, “People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.
23. They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”
24. “We have heard the news,” say the people of Jerusalem, “and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labour.
25. We dare not go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all round us.”
26. The Lord says to his people, “Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only son, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack.
27. Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like.
28. They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going round and spreading gossip.
29. The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away.
30. They will be called worthless dross, because I, the Lord, have rejected them.”