⁴ The best of them is ^(A)like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^(B)your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    ^(C)now their confusion is at hand.

³ What will you do on ^(A)the day of punishment,
    in the ruin that will come ^(B)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
    and where will you leave your wealth?

⁶ But worthless men^[a] are all like thorns that are thrown away,
    for they cannot be taken with the hand;
⁷ but the man who touches them
    arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear,
    and they are utterly consumed with fire.”^[b]