2 Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, 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?
Indeed with My ^arebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst. ‡

3 ^aI clothe the heavens with blackness,
^bAnd I make sackcloth their covering.” ‡

7 “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore ^aI have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed. ‡

8 ^aHe is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is¹ My adversary?
Let him come near Me. ‡