In vain had the prophetic fire burnt within him; in vain had the vehemency of the spirit fanned the flame; the Divine word--that solvent of hearts--had been expended in vain; no good metal could come of an ore so utterly base. _They are all the worst_ (1 Ki. xx. 43) _of rebels_ (or, _deserters to the rebels_), _going about with slander; they are brass and iron; they all deal corruptly.[28] The bellows blow; the lead_ (used for fining the ore) _is consumed by the fire; in vain do they go on refining_ (or, _does the refiner refine_[29]); _and the wicked are not separated. Refuse silver are they called, for Iahvah hath refused them._ FOOTNOTES: [25] The modern singer has well caught the echo of this ancient strain. "Wilt thou cover thine hair with gold, and with silver thy feet? Hast thou taken the purple to fold thee, and made thy mouth sweet? Behold, when thy face is made bare, he that loved thee shall hate: Thy face shall be no more fair at the fall of thy fate." _Atalanta in Calydon._ [26] The second _'awen_, however, probably means "trouble," "calamity," as in Hab. iii. 7. The Sept. renders πόνος, and this agrees with the mention of Dan in viii. 16. As Ewald puts it, "from the north of Palestine the misery that is coming from the further north is already being proclaimed to all the nations in the south (vi. 18)." [27] With a different point: "When I had fed them to the full" (cf. Hos. xiii. 6). [28] This term--_mashchîthîm_--is certainly not the plur. of the _mashchîth_, "pitfall" or "trap," of v. 26. The meaning is the same as in Isa. i. 4. The original force of the root _shachath_ is seen in the Assyrian _shachâtu_, "to fall down." [29] The form--_c̰ārōf_--is like _bāchōn_, "assayer," in ver. 27. V. _POPULAR AND TRUE RELIGION._ JEREMIAH vii.-x., xxvi.