⁷ Therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people?

²⁵ And I will turn my hand on you, Thoroughly purge away your dross, And will take away all your tin.

³ and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

²⁷ I have made you a tester of metals [and] a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way.

⁹ I will bring the third part into the fire, And will refine them as silver is refined, And will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, 'It is my people;' And they will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

¹² Beloved, don't be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

⁷ that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ--

⁸ "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, My compassion is aroused.

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; And I will not come in wrath.

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰ As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

²¹ Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst of it; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.

²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

³⁰ Refuse silver shall men them, because Yahweh has rejected them.

⁴ "Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, And like the dew that disappears early.

⁵ Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

¹¹ With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground.

¹² They shall make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters.

²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.

¹⁵ Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place:

¹⁴ So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

¹⁵ I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity."

¹⁶ Therefore thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'