The Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them over and over again by His messengers because He had compassion on His people and His dwelling place.
Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I still remember him; therefore My heart longs for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, see now and know; seek in the open places if you can find a man, if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth, that I may pardon her.
Hear the word of the Lord, O Israelites, for the Lord has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth or mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land.
And I will bring this one-third left into the fire, and will refine them as the refinement of silver, and will test them as the testing of gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are My people”; and they will say, “The Lord is my God.”
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites, and refine them like gold and silver, and they will present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
in order that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tried by fire, may be found to result in praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,