19Listen, 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.
20Incense 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.
21This 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.
22This 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.
23Its 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 battle against my people Zion.
24We have heard the news about them. Our hands hang limp. We are gripped by anguish and pain like a woman giving birth to a child.
25Don't go into the field or walk on the road. The enemy has a sword. Terror is all around.
26Wear 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.
28They are all vicious rebels. They go around slandering. They are all like bronze and iron. They corrupt themselves.
29The bellows of the blast furnace blow fiercely to make the fire melt away the lead. It is useless to go on refining because the impurities can't be removed.
30[People] will call them useless silver because the LORD has rejected them."
