I punished you, but it did no good; you would not let me correct you. Like a raging lion, you have murdered your prophets.

Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.

The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away.

They will be called worthless dross, because I, the LORD, have rejected them."

You are doomed, you sinful nation, you corrupt and evil people! Your sins drag you down! You have rejected the LORD, the holy God of Israel, and have turned your backs on him.

Why do you keep on rebelling? Do you want to be punished even more? Israel, your head is already covered with wounds, and your heart and mind are sick.

It has not listened to the LORD or accepted his discipline. It has not put its trust in the LORD or asked for his help.

People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives."

They turned their backs on me; and though I kept on teaching them, they would not listen and learn.

You refuse to let me correct you; you reject my commands.

To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the LORD. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn.

I thought that then my people would have reverence for me and accept my discipline, that they would never forget the lesson I taught them. But soon they were behaving as badly as ever.

People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look around! See for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you can, the LORD will forgive Jerusalem.

They are always ready to tell lies; dishonesty instead of truth rules the land. The LORD says, "My people do one evil thing after another and do not acknowledge me as their God."

They all mislead their friends, and no one tells the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie and will not give up their sinning. They do one violent thing after another, and one deceitful act follows another. The LORD says that his people reject him.

Because of this the LORD Almighty says, "I will refine my people like metal and put them to the test. My people have done evil--- what else can I do with them?

Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there.

There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime." The LORD has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice.

The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: "There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God.

There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people.

Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds. The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion.