16. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.
17. I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
18. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.
19. Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
20. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord.
21. “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”