1 Beware, those who enact unjust policies those who are always instituting unfair regulations, 2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own and loot what belongs to orphans. 3 What will you do on the day of visitation⁵, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. 5 “Beware, Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.

5 Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; 6 like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them. 7 In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and will run like sparks through the stubble. 8 They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever. 9 Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones, and he watches over his elect.