17. I posted watchmen over you.Pay attention to the sound of the ram’s horn.But you said that you wouldn’t pay attention.
18. Listen, you nations,and learn, you witnesses, what will happen to them.
19. Listen, earth!I’m going to bring disaster on these people.It is the result of their own plots,because they won’t pay attention to my words.They reject my teachings.
20. Incense that comes from Sheba is no good to me.Sugar cane that comes from a distant land is no good to me.I won’t accept your burnt offerings.I’m not pleased with your sacrifices.
21. This is what the Lord says:I’m going to lay stumbling blocks in front of these people.Parents and children will stumble over them.Neighbors and their friends will die.
22. This is what the Lord says:An army is going to come from the north.A great nation is preparing itself in the distant parts of the earth.
23. Its people take hold of bows and spears.They are cruel and have no compassion.They sound like the roaring sea.They ride on horses.They march like soldiers ready for battleagainst my people Zion.
24. We have heard the news about them.Our hands hang limp.We are gripped by anguish and painlike a woman giving birth to a child.
25. Don’t go into the field or walk on the road.The enemy has a sword.Terror is all around.
26. Wear sackcloth, and roll around in ashes, my people.Mourn as if you have lost your only child, and cry bitterly.The destroyer will suddenly attack us.
27. “Jeremiah, I have put you in charge of testing and refining my people.You will know how to test their ways.
28. They are all vicious rebels.They go around slandering.They are all like bronze and iron.They corrupt themselves.
29. The bellows of the blast furnace blow fiercelyto make the fire melt away the lead.It is useless to go on refiningbecause the impurities can’t be removed.
30. ⌊People⌋ will call them useless silverbecause the Lord has rejected them.”