Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you respond to me.

You will call and I – I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made.

Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock.

You said, ‘Pay attention, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.’

Pay attention, Job – listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

Then you will again be my people and I will be your God.

Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord (although I am but dust and ashes),

Laban said to him, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing out here when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”

Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!”

So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say.”

And Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself here by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord there.

But I am a worm, not a man; people insult me and despise me.

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you!

The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; I have not rebelled, I have not turned back.

I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves surge. The Lord who commands armies is his name!

I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?

Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them.

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old.

I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets.”