23. "They seize bow and spear; They are cruel and have no mercy; Their voice roars like the sea, And they ride on horses, Arrayed as a man for the battle Against you, O daughter of Zion!"
24. We have heard the report of it; Our hands are limp. Anguish has seized us, Pain as of a woman in childbirth.
25. Do not go out into the field And do not walk on the road, For the enemy has a sword, Terror is on every side.
26. O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer Will come upon us.
27. "I have made you an assayer and a tester among My people, That you may know and assay their way."
28. All of them are stubbornly rebellious, Going about as a talebearer. They are bronze and iron; They, all of them, are corrupt.
29. The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; In vain the refining goes on, But the wicked are not separated.
30. They call them rejected silver, Because the Lord has rejected them.