^6 (A)Wail, for ^(B)the day of the Lord is near;
    as destruction from the Almighty^[a] it will come!
⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble,
    and every human heart ^(C)will melt.
⁸ They will be dismayed:
    ^(D)pangs and agony will seize them;
    ^(E)they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
    their faces will be aflame.

¹⁶ O Lord, ^(A)in distress they sought you;
    they poured out a whispered prayer
    when your discipline was upon them.
^17 (B)Like a pregnant woman
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs
    when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
^{18     (C)}we were pregnant, we writhed,
    but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
^19 (D)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
    You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For ^(E)your dew is a dew of light,
    and the earth will give birth to the dead.

²² Thus says the Lord:
^(A)“Behold, a people is coming ^(B)from the north country,
    a great nation is stirring from ^(C)the farthest parts of the earth.
²³ They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are ^(D)cruel and have no mercy;
    ^(E)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
²⁴ We have heard the report of it;
    ^(F)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    ^(G)pain as of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    ^(H)terror is on every side.
²⁶ O daughter of my people, ^(I)put on sackcloth,
    and ^(J)roll in ashes;
^(K)make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
    and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from ^(A)Abarim,
    for all ^(B)your lovers are destroyed.
²¹ I spoke to you in your prosperity,
    but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
^(C)This has been your way from ^(D)your youth,
    that you have not obeyed my voice.
^22 (E)The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
    and ^(F)your lovers shall go into captivity;
^(G)then you will be ashamed and confounded
    because of all your evil.
²³ O inhabitant of ^(H)Lebanon,
    nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
    ^(I)pain as of a woman in labor!”

^41 (A)“Behold, a people comes from the north;
    a mighty nation and many kings
    are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
⁴² They lay hold of bow and spear;
    they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
    they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
    against you, O daughter of Babylon!

⁴³ “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
    and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
    pain as of a woman in labor.

⁹ Now why do you cry aloud?
    ^(A)Is there no king in you?
^(B)Has your counselor perished,
    that ^(C)pain seized you like a woman in labor?
^10 (D)Writhe and groan,^[a] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for ^(E)now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you ^(F)shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    ^(G)there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹ Now ^(H)many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and ^(I)let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
¹² But ^(J)they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
    that ^(K)he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³ Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
    and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and ^(L)shall devote^{[b] (M)}their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to ^(N)the Lord of the whole earth.