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.
I clothe the heavens with darkness(G)
    and make sackcloth(H) its covering.”

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)

Read full chapter

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? 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 the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

Read full chapter