1 Yea, for thus saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever? For thus saith the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? To whom have I put thee away, or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Yea, to whom have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away;
2 wherefore, when I come, there was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer. O House of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke, I dry up the sea, I make their rivers a wilderness and their fish to stink, because the waters are dried up; and they die because of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season unto thee, O House of Israel. When ye are weary, he waketh morning by morning. He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God hath appointed mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
6 I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting,
7 for the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed;
8 and the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth:
9 for the Lord God will help me. And all they which shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.
10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord; that obeyeth the voice of his servant; that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?
11 Behold, all ye that kindleth fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand: Ye shall lie down in sorrow.