Yahweh’s power

1This is also what Yahweh says: “You Israeli children, do not think [RHQ] that I forced your parents to be exiled/taken to Babylonia [MET] like some men send away their wives after giving them a paper on which they state that they were divorcing them! I certainly did not [RHQ] get rid of you like a man who sells his children to get money to pay what he owes.
No, the reason that I forced you to be exiled was to punish you because of the sins that you have committed [DOU].

2When I came to you to rescue you, why did no one answer when I called out to you [RHQ]? Was there no one there [RHQ]? Or, did you think that I do not have the power [MTY] to rescue you [DOU]? Think about this: I can speak to a sea and cause it to become dry! I can cause rivers to become deserts, with the result that the fish in the rivers die from thirst and they rot.

3I cause the sky to become dark, as though [MET] it was wearing black clothes because it was mourning because someone had died.”

4Yahweh our God has given me his wise message [MTY] in order that I may encourage those who are weary. Each morning he awakens me, in order that I [SYN] may listen to what he teaches [SIM] me.

5Yahweh our God has spoken to me [IDM], and I have not rejected what he told me;
I have accepted [LIT] it.

6I allowed people to beat me on my back and to pull out the whiskers in my beard because they hated me. I did not turn away [MTY] from them when they made fun of me and spat on me.

7But, because the Lord our God helps me, I will never be humiliated. Therefore, I am strongly determined [IDM] to face/endure difficulties, and I know that nothing will cause me to be ashamed.

8God, the one who vindicates me, is near to me; so if anyone [RHQ] stands in front of me and accuses me in a court,
he will not be able to show that I have done anything that is wrong.

9The Lord our God defends me in court, so no one [RHQ] will be able to ◄condemn me/declare that I am guilty►. All those who accuse me will disappear like [SIM] old clothes that have been eaten by ◄larvae of moths/cockroaches►.

10If you revere Yahweh and do what his servant tells you to do, even if you are ◄walking in darkness/enduring suffering►, and it seems that [MET] there is no light, trust in Yahweh your God [DOU] to help you.

11But you people who oppose me, who would like to throw me into a blazing fire, walk in your own fires and burn yourselves with your own torches! This is what Yahweh will cause to happen to you: You will be enduring great torment when you die [EUP]!