19. Listen, earth!I am about to bring disaster on these people,the fruit of their own plotting, for they have paid no attention to My word.They have rejected My instruction.
20. What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land?Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;your sacrifices do not please Me.
21. Therefore, this is what the Lord says:I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;fathers and sons together will stumble over them; friends and neighbors will also perish.
22. This is what the Lord says:Look, an army is coming from a northern land; a great nation will be awakenedfrom the remote regions of the earth.
23. They grasp bow and javelin.They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses,lined up like men in battle formationagainst you, Daughter Zion.
24. We have heard about it,and we are discouraged. Distress has seized us —pain like a woman in labor.
25. Don’t go out to the fields;don’t walk on the road.For the enemy has a sword;terror is on every side.
26. My dear people, dress yourselves in sackclothand roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament,for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.
27. I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people —a refiner —so you may know and assay their way of life.
28. All are stubborn rebelsspreading slander. They are bronze and iron;all of them are corrupt.
29. The bellows blow,blasting the lead with fire.The refining is completely in vain;the evil ones are not separated out.