God’s Power and Israel’s Transgressions

For shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the lawful captive delivered?

But thus saith the Lord:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;
for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people.”

For thus saith the Lord:

“I will contend with them that contendeth with thee—

“And I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh;
and they shall be drunken
with their own blood as with sweet wine;
and all flesh shall know that I the Lord
am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Yea, for thus saith the Lord:

“Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever?”

For thus saith the Lord:

“Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?

“To whom have I put thee away,
or to which of my creditors have I sold you?

“Yea, to whom have I sold you?

“Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves,
and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

“Wherefore, when I came, there was no man;
when I called, yea, there was none to answer.

“O house of Israel,
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 their rivers a wilderness
and their fish to stink because the waters are dried up,
and they die because of thirst.

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