24 We have heard the news about that army, and we are paralyzed with fear. We feel trapped by our troubles, in pain like a woman giving birth.
25 Don’t go out into the fields. Don’t go on the roads because the enemy has swords, and there is danger everywhere.
26 My people, put on sackcloth and roll in the ashes. Cry loudly for the dead. Cry as if you lost an only son. Do this because the destroyer will come against us very quickly.
27 “Jeremiah, I want you to be like a worker who tests metals. You will test my people and watch how they live.
28 My people have turned against me, and they are very stubborn. They say bad things about people. They are like bronze and iron that are covered with rust and tarnish.
29 They are like a worker who tried to make silver pure. The bellows blew strongly, and the fire became hotter, but only lead came from the fire. The worker wasted his time trying to make that silver pure. In the same way the evil was not removed from my people.