¹¹ Put in my care your children who have no father, and I will keep them safe; and let your widows put their faith in me.

⁵ A father to those who have no father, a judge of the widows, is God in his holy place.

³ Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.

²⁷ The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

⁵ Now she who is truly a widow and without family puts her hope in God, giving herself to prayer day and night.

⁵ And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.

¹¹ And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?

¹⁰ Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;

¹¹ For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.

⁹ The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land; he gives help to the widow and to the child who has no father; but he sends destruction on the way of sinners.

³ Give ear to the cause of the poor and the children without fathers; let those who are troubled and in need have their rights.

¹⁴ You have seen it; for your eyes are on sorrow and grief, to take it into your hand: the poor man puts his faith in you; you have been the helper of the child who has no father.

¹⁵ Let the arm of the sinner and the evil-doer be broken; go on searching for his sin till there is no more.

¹⁶ The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations are gone from his land.

¹⁷ Lord, you have given ear to the prayer of the poor: you will make strong their hearts, you will give them a hearing:

¹⁸ To give decision for the child without a father and for the broken-hearted, so that the man of the earth may no longer be feared.

¹⁸ Judging uprightly in the cause of the widow and of the child who has no father, and giving food and clothing in his mercy to the man from a strange country.