Jeremiah 6:22-30

22Thus says the Lord, “Behold, 1a people is coming from the north land, And a great nation will be aroused from the 2remote parts of the earth.23They seize 3bow and spear; They are 4cruel and have no mercy; Their voice 5roars like the sea, And they ride on horses, Arrayed as a man for the battle Against you, O daughter of Zion!”24We have 6heard the report of it; Our hands are limp. 7Anguish has seized us, Pain as of a woman in childbirth.258Do not go out into the field And 9do not walk on the road, For the enemy has a sword, 10Terror is on every side.26O daughter of my people, 11put on sackcloth And 12roll in ashes; 1314Mourn as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer Will come upon us.

27“I have 15made you an assayer and a tester among My people, That you may know and assay their way.”28All of them are stubbornly rebellious, 16Going about as a talebearer. They are 17bronze and iron; They, all of them, are corrupt.29The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; In vain the refining goes on, But the 18wicked are not 19separated.3020They call them rejected silver, Because the 21Lord has rejected them.