Surely I am looking to you, ¹  O sovereign Lord. In you I take shelter. Do not expose me to danger! ² 

Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! ¹  Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!

Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or take over ¹  the fields of the fatherless,

I will destroy ¹  Daughter Zion, ²  who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden. ³ 

Before daybreak ¹  the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is ²  like a thief. ³ 

The Lord deserves praise, ¹  for ²  he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.

Like a city that is broken down and without a wall, so is a person who cannot control his temper. ¹ 

Open your mouth ¹  on behalf of those unable to speak, ²  for the legal rights of all the dying. ³ 

They ¹  removed the defenses ²  of Judah. At that time ³  you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest. ⁴ 

Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile; there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. ¹ 

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ¹  Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow! ² 

to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive ¹  the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. ² 

So I say: “Don’t look at me! ¹  I am weeping bitterly. Don’t try ²  to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ³ 

Destructive forces will come against her horses and her ¹  chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; ²  they will be as frightened as women! ³  Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder!

You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea ¹  that have no ruler.

And no creature is hidden from God, ¹  but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Your officials are rebels, ¹  they associate with ²  thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for ³  payoffs. ⁴  They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ⁵  or defend the rights of the widow. ⁶ 

Their camels will be taken as plunder. Their vast herds will be taken as spoil. I will scatter to the four winds those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹  I will bring disaster against them from every direction,” says the Lord. ² 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Gaza ¹  has committed three crimes ²  – make that four! ³  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁴  They deported a whole community ⁵  and sold them ⁶  to Edom.

You should not have entered the city ¹  of my people when they experienced distress. ²  You should not have joined ³  in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. ⁴  You should not have looted ⁵  their wealth when they endured distress. ⁶