I will purge out the rebels from among you and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out from the land where they dwell, but they will not enter the land of Israel. So you will know that I am Adonai.
“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me—all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace—they are the dross of silver.”
My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Over all the face of the earth My sheep were scattered. No one searched. No one sought.”
Therefore the fathers will eat the sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you and I will scatter the remainder of you to all the winds.
A third of you will die with the plague and will be consumed with famine in your midst. A third will fall by the sword all around you. A third I will scatter to all the winds, and draw out a sword after them.
I will scatter you among the nations and I will draw out the sword after you. So your land will become a desolation and your cities will become a waste.
This third I will bring through the fire. I will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will answer, ‘Adonai is my God.’
‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations they have not known. Thus the land was left so desolate behind them that no one passed through or returned, for they made the pleasant land desolate.’”
And He will sit as a smelter or a purifier of silver, and He will cleanse the sons of Levi, and purify them like gold or silver. Then they will become for Adonai those who present an offering in righteousness.
His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He shall clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn; but the chaff He shall burn up with inextinguishable fire.”
“Adonai will bring you to defeat before your enemies. You will go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. You will become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
“Adonai will scatter you among all peoples from the one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods—wood and stone—that you and your fathers have not known.