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Yahweh is speaking.
one who tests my people like one would test metal
"a person who will test my people." Yahweh is comparing Jeremiah to a person who tests silver to find out how pure it is. The people are like the silver that Jeremiah is testing and their sins are the impurities in the silver. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile)
will inspect
"will discover"
their ways
AT: "the things that they do." (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom)
who go about slandering others
"and constantly slander other people"
bronze and iron
Neither of these metals are the silver that Yahweh wants. Silver represents the righteousness that Yahweh desires. AT: "impure and wicked."
The bellows are scorched by the fire that is burning them; the lead is consumed in the flames
The fire that refines the silver is so hot that it burns the bellows. (Bellows are a device used to blow large amounts of air into a burning fire.) A refiner adds lead to silver ore in order to draw out impurities, but the refiner has run out of lead. These phrases emphasize that the refiner is working very hard to refine the silver.
The refining continues among them
"The refiner continues to refine"
because the evil is not removed
AT: "because the bad parts do not go away." (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive)
They will be called rejected silver
AT: "People will call them 'worthless silver'"