1
Thus says the LORD:
"Where is a the certificate of your mother's divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My b creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities c you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
2
Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My d rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
3
e I clothe the heavens with blackness,
f And I make sackcloth their covering."
4
"The g Lord GOD has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is h weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5
The Lord GOD i has opened My ear;
And I was not j rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6
k I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And l My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and m spitting.
7
"For the Lord GOD will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore n I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8
o He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is 1 My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9
Surely the Lord GOD will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
p Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
q The moth will eat them up.
10
"Who among you fears the LORD?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who r walks in darkness
And has no light?
s Let him trust in the name of the LORD
And rely upon his God.
11
Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled -
t This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down u in torment.