23. They shall lay hold of keshet (bow) and kidon (spear); they are cruel, and have no mercy; their kol (voice) roareth like the yam; and they ride upon susim, set in array as ish for milchamah against thee, O Bat Tziyon.
24. We have heard the fame thereof; our hands hang limp; tzarah (anguish) hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in labor.
25. Go not forth into the sadeh, nor walk by the derech; for the cherev of the oyev (enemy) and magur (fear, terror) is on every side.
26. O Bat Ami, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes; make thee evel (mourning), as for a yachid (only son), most bitter lamentation; for the shoded (destroyer) shall suddenly come upon us.
27. I have set thee for a bachon (tester, assayer) of Ami (My People); that thou mayest know and test their derech (way, conduct).
28. They are all maximum rebels, going about as rachil (talebearers, slanderers); they are nechoshet and barzel; they are all corrupt.
29. The bellows blow, the oferet (lead) is consumed by the eish; the smelter's refining is in vain; for the ra'im are not drawn off.
30. Nimas kesef (reprobate silver, rejected silver) shall men call them, because Hashem hath rejected them.