God uses paired rhetorical questions to expose Jerusalem’s utter inability to withstand the coming judgment, forcing recognition that no human courage or physical strength can resist divine discipline when the LORD executes His declared purpose.

No verbal response is recorded. God immediately declares His sovereign intention: ‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it,’ removing any possibility of debate or resistance to the coming judgment.

God’s double rhetorical question functions as judicial pronouncement disguised as inquiry. The Hebrew construction pairs internal courage (lev, heart) with external capacity (yadayim, hands), covering the full spectrum of human resistance. By framing unavoidable judgment as questions rather than flat declarations, God invites self-examination even while the verdict stands fixed. The rhetorical form exposes the absurdity of defiance, no human heart remains steady, no human hands stay strong when the covenant LORD personally executes sentence. The closing declaration ‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it’ transforms the rhetorical questions into divine oath, establishing God’s word as both prosecutor and executioner. This linguistic pattern echoes throughout Scripture whenever God challenges human pretensions to autonomy, reminding readers that divine sovereignty permits questions but never negotiation when judgment arrives.