I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.
He saw that there was no man – he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him.
Why was no one there when I came? Why was there no one to answer when I called? Is my arm too weak to redeem? Or do I have no power to rescue? Look, I dry up the sea by my rebuke; I turn the rivers into a wilderness; their fish rot because of lack of water and die of thirst.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
Why should the Egyptians say, “He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.
‘Woe to the one who argues with his Maker – one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it, “What are you making? ” Or does your work say, “He has no hands”?
Yet you are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn’t recognise us. You, Lord, are our Father; your name is Our Redeemer from Ancient Times.
‘A son honours his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.’ Yet you ask, ‘How have we despised your name? ’
Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?