^16 (A)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are ^[a]brought to confusion.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord ^(B)is not glad in their choice men,
^(C)Nor does He have compassion on their ^[b]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is ^(D)godless and an ^(E)evildoer,
And every ^(F)mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.
^(G)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,
And His hand is still stretched out.

^18 (H)For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.