21 So listen to this. Here’s God’s verdict on your way of life:“Watch out! I’m putting roadblocks and barrierson the road you’re taking.They’ll send you sprawling,parents and children, neighbors and friends—and that will be the end of the lot of you.”
22-23 And listen to this verdict from God:“Look out! An invasion from the north,a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:Armed to the teeth,vicious and pitiless,Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—riding hard on war horses,In battle formationagainst you, dear Daughter Zion!”
24-25 We’ve heard the news,and we’re as limp as wet dishrags.We’re paralyzed with fear.Terror has a death grip on our throats.Don’t dare go outdoors!Don’t leave the house!Death is on the prowl.Danger everywhere!
26 “Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.Blacken your face with ashes.Weep most bitterly,as for an only child.The countdown has begun . . .six, five, four, three . . .The Terror is on us!”
27-30 God gave me this task:“I have made you the examiner of my people,to examine and weigh their lives.They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,rotten to the core, the lot of them.Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.It’s useless to keep trying any longer.Nothing can refine evil out of them.Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”