⁵ Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!
    What a day of confusion and terror
brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    upon the Valley of Vision!
The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,
    and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

³ What will you do when I punish you,
    when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
    Where will your treasures be safe?

⁶ But the godless are like thorns to be thrown away,
    for they tear the hand that touches them.
⁷ One must use iron tools to chop them down;
    they will be totally consumed by fire.”

⁷ The time of Israel’s punishment has come;
    the day of payment is here.
    Soon Israel will know this all too well.
Because of your great sin and hostility,
    you say, “The prophets are crazy
    and the inspired men are fools!”
⁸ The prophet is a watchman over Israel^[a] for my God,
    yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.
    He faces hostility even in the house of God.

¹⁰ His enemies, tangled like thornbushes
    and staggering like drunks,
    will be burned up like dry stubble in a field.