27. The Lord said to me, “I have made you like a metal assayerto test my people like ore.You are to observe themand evaluate how they behave.”
28. I reported, “All of them are the most stubborn of rebels!They are as hard as bronze or iron.They go about telling lies.They all deal corruptly.
29. The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely.But there is too much dross to be removed.The process of refining them has proved useless.The wicked have not been purged.
30. They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’because the Lord rejects them.”