- God condemns Jerusalem as "the bloody city": its citizens have shed innocent blood and worshipped idols. They'll become a disgrace in the eyes of all the other nations.
- The princes of Israel have killed the innocent, and the people have mistreated their parents, immigrants, orphans, and widows.
- God goes on to attack the people for various sins: adultery, rape, incest, bribery, violating the Sabbath, shady financial dealings.
- God claps his hands angrily at all the blood they've spilled and dishonest gains they've made.
- He'll scatter them through the land and even make himself profaned in the sight of the nations, because of how terribly the people have been disgraced.
The Man Who Smelt It, Dealt It
- Instead of being silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead in the eyes of God, the people appear like dross—worthless metal melted down in a smelter.
- God will angrily put them back in the smelter and then melt them all over again. Kind of like that awesome last scene of Terminator 2.
- The land of Israel needs to be cleansed; its princes are like raging lions murdering the innocent and creating widows.
- The priests have ruined things too, mixing the holy and the everyday, and not teaching the difference between what's clean and unclean. BLTs? Unfortunately, not clean.
- And it's not just princes and priests: the officials kill people for money, the prophets lie, and the people themselves oppress the poor and rob immigrants. Society is going down the tubes.
- God couldn't find one person to stand in front of the broken wall of the city and repair it (by repenting and turning to good).
- So God is judging everyone and punishing them with wrath.