² When I came, why was there no one?
    When I called, why was there no one to answer?^(A)
Was my arm too short^(B) to deliver you?
    Do I lack the strength^(C) to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke^(D) I dry up the sea,^(E)
    I turn rivers into a desert;^(F)
their fish rot for lack of water
    and die of thirst.
³ I clothe the heavens with darkness^(G)
    and make sackcloth^(H) its covering.”

⁴ The Sovereign Lord^(I) has given me a well-instructed tongue,^(J)
    to know the word that sustains the weary.^(K)
He wakens me morning by morning,^(L)
    wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.^(M)