In verses 19-22 God applies the metaphor of purifying silver to the people of Jerusalem. He will refine them like silver. The Hebrew pronouns for you in these verse are plural, so they clearly refer to the people.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: God begins the application with this traditional prophetic formula (see Ezek 22.3).

Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem: Because the people are like dross, that is, leftover metal (see verse 18), God will put them back into the furnace to be heated and melted again. In this picture Jerusalem is the furnace. For behold see Ezek 22.6.

As men gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace: See verse 18.

To blow the fire upon it in order to melt it refers to the way metalworkers use bellows to blow air onto a fire to make it burn more hotly in order to melt the metal into a liquid form.

So I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you: The heating and melting here is a picture of the suffering and punishment that the people of Jerusalem will undergo. God will gather them in the same way as metalworkers collect leftover metal and put it into a furnace. The reason that God will bring the people together is because he is angry with them on account of their sins. For the Hebrew words rendered anger and wrath, see the comments on 5.13, where they are translated “anger” and “fury.” I will put you in and melt you means God will put his people in the furnace (Jerusalem) and melt them in order to punish them.

A model for translating these two verses is included at the end of the discussion on verse 22.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .