1. The Lord says,“Do you think I sent my people awaylike a man who divorces his wife?Where, then, are the papers of divorce?Do you think I sold you into captivitylike a man who sells his children as slaves?No, you went away captive because of your sins;you were sent away because of your crimes.
2. “Why did my people fail to respondwhen I went to them to save them?Why did they not answer when I called?Am I too weak to save them?I can dry up the sea with a commandand turn rivers into a desert,so that the fish in them die for lack of water.
3. I can make the sky turn dark,as if it were in mourning for the dead.”
4. The Sovereign Lord has taught me what to say,so that I can strengthen the weary.Every morning he makes me eagerto hear what he is going to teach me.
5. The Lord has given me understanding,and I have not rebelledor turned away from him.
6. I bared my back to those who beat me.I did not stop them when they insulted me,when they pulled out the hairs of my beardand spat in my face.