God responds to the angel's intercession with comforting and good words, shifting the tone from judgment and exile to promise and restoration, answering the implicit question of the entire vision about when the period of divine wrath will end. The formulaic nature of God's response\u2014introducing comfort with structured speech\u2014establishes that God's promises are not impulsive sentimentality but deliberate, covenantally grounded assurances of His intention to restore. The good words God utters through this interchange now flow into the substance of all the visions that follow, each of which elaborates elements of restoration. This verse marks a decisive theological pivot in the book: from the grief of exile and the question of when restoration comes to the divine answer\u2014it comes now, through these visions and the program they reveal. The comfort offered is not material only but theological: the Lord has not abandoned His people, His plans are active and imminent, and His word is sure.

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