the voice of God himself, but the cries of the mighty beings who surround his throne. His response here (What shall I cry?) is the counterpart of his earlier cry (‘For how long, O LORD?’). There he was summoned to a ministry of judgment; here to one of comfort. The former ministry was to continue ‘Until cities lie ruined and without inhabitant … until the LORD has sent everyone far away …’ (6:11–12). The present ministry is to be directed to those who have experienced the full outworking of that