A third of your people will die from sickness and hunger in the city; a third will be cut down by swords outside the city; and I will scatter the last third to the winds and pursue them with a sword.

I will scatter in every direction all the members of his court and his advisers and bodyguards, and people will search for them to kill them.

"When I scatter them among the other nations and in foreign countries, they will know that I am the LORD.

So my sheep wandered over the high hills and the mountains. They were scattered over the face of the earth, and no one looked for them or tried to find them.

I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I scattered them through foreign countries.

I will bring war on you and scatter you in foreign lands. Your land will be deserted, and your cities left in ruins.

The LORD will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive.

"The LORD will give your enemies victory over you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in all directions, and all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you.

"The LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have ever worshiped before.

Remember now what you told Moses: 'If you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the other nations.

I will make all the people of the world horrified at them because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh did in Jerusalem when he was king of Judah."

Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it."

"Mortal man, the Israelites are of no use to me. They are like waste metal---copper, tin, iron, and lead---left over after silver has been refined in a furnace.

They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the LORD."

I will take away from among you those who are rebellious and sinful. I will take them out of the lands where they are living now, but I will not let them return to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD."

Let the mob stone them and attack them with swords, kill their children, and burn down their houses.

Throughout the land I will put a stop to immorality, as a warning to every woman not to commit adultery as they did.

This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "The city of murderers is doomed! It is like a corroded pot that is never cleaned. Piece after piece of meat is taken out, and not one is left.

I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it demands angry revenge."

Bring more wood! Fan the flames! Cook the meat! Boil away the broth! Burn up the bones!

although all that corrosion will not disappear in the flames.

I, the LORD, have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished for what you have done." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity.

And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God."

He will come to judge like one who refines and purifies silver. As a metalworker refines silver and gold, so the LORD's messenger will purify the priests, so that they will bring to the LORD the right kind of offerings.

The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them.

He has his winnowing shovel with him to thresh out all the grain. He will gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out."

My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you.