18“Therefore hear, O nations,
         And know, O congregation, what is among them.

19“Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
         The fruit of their plans,
         Because they have not listened to My words,
         And as for My law, they have rejected it also.

20“For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba
         And the sweet cane from a distant land?
         Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
         And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”

21Therefore, thus says the LORD,
         “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.
         And they will stumble against them,
         Fathers and sons together;
         Neighbor and friend will perish.”

The Enemy from the North

22Thus says the LORD,
         “Behold, a people is coming from the north land,
         And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

23“They seize bow and spear;
         They are cruel and have no mercy;
         Their voice roars like the sea,
         And they ride on horses,
         Arrayed as a man for the battle
         Against you, O daughter of Zion!”

24We have heard the report of it;
         Our hands are limp.
         Anguish has seized us,
         Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

25Do not go out into the field
         And do not walk on the road,
         For the enemy has a sword,
         Terror is on every side.

26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth
         And roll in ashes;
         Mourn as for an only son,
         A lamentation most bitter.
         For suddenly the destroyer
         Will come upon us.

27“I have made you an assayer and a tester among My people,
         That you may know and assay their way.”

28All of them are stubbornly rebellious,
         Going about as a talebearer.
         They are bronze 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 wicked are not separated.

30They call them rejected silver,
         Because the LORD has rejected them.

NASB ©1995