The Lord questions why Israel has been given a bill of divorce and sold into bondage, stating it is due to their iniquities and wickedness. The Lord asserts His power to deliver and redeem, but Israel has not responded. The Lord has given the prophet a learned tongue to speak words of comfort to the weak, and the prophet has not turned back from the Lord's message despite facing physical abuse. The Lord is the prophet's helper, and those who oppose him will be worn away like a garment. The passage concludes with a warning to those who kindle their own fires of rebellion, stating they will sleep in anguish, and an encouragement to those who fear the Lord to hope in His name.
1 Thus says the Lord: What is this bill of divorce for your mother, by which I have dismissed her? Or who is my creditor, to whom I have sold you? Behold, you were sold by your iniquities, and I have dismissed your mother for your wickedness 2 For I arrived, and there was no man. I called out, and there was no one who would hear. Has my hand been shortened and become small, so that I am unable to redeem? Or is there no power in me to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke, I will make the sea into a desert. I will turn rivers into dry land. The fish will rot for lack of water and will die of thirst 3 I will clothe the heavens in darkness, and I will make sackcloth their covering 4 The Lord has given me a learned tongue, so that I would know how to uphold with a word, one who has weakened. He rises in the morning, he rises to my ear in the morning, so that I may heed him like a teacher 5 The Lord God has opened my ear. And I do not contradict him. I have not turned back 6 I have given my body to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who plucked them. I have not averted my face from those who rebuked me and who spit on me 7 The Lord God is my helper. Therefore, I have not been confounded. Therefore, I have set my face like a very hard rock, and I know that I will not be confounded 8 He who justifies me is near. Who will speak against me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him approach me 9 Behold, the Lord God is my helper. Who is the one who would condemn me? Behold, they will all be worn away like a garment; the moth will devour them 10 Who is there among you who fears the Lord? Who hears the voice of his servant? Who has walked in darkness, and there is no light in him? Let him hope in the name of the Lord, and let him lean upon his God 11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, wrapped in flames: walk in the light of your fire and in the flames that you have kindled. This has been done to you by my hand. You will sleep in anguish