“He found him in a wilderness, And in a wasted, howling desert. He encompassed him, He made him understand, He watched over him as the apple of His eye.
Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labour with you; There she was in labour, gave birth to you.
In all their distress He was distressed, and the Messenger of His Presence saved them. In His love and in His compassion He redeemed them, and He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
“And did not they say, ‘Where is יהוה, who brought us up out of the land of Mitsrayim, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, a land that no one passed through and where no one dwelt?’
“No eye felt sorry for you, to do any of these for you, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out into the open field, to the loathing of your life on the day you were born.
“As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Mitsrayim, so I shall enter into judgment with you,” declares the Master יהוה.
For thus said יהוה of hosts (for the sake of esteem He sent me to the gentiles which plunder you): “For he who touches you touches the apple of My eye.
and in the wilderness, where you saw how יהוה your Elohim has borne you, as a man bears his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
“From the heavens He let you hear His voice, to instruct you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.