¹³ Pain has come to the people
    like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
    who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
    but they stay in the womb!

⁹ Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth
    and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord.
“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”
    says your God.

¹⁷ Just as a pregnant woman
    writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
¹⁸ We, too, writhe in agony,
    but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the earth,
    nor brought life into the world.

¹⁵ Then call on me when you are in trouble,
    and I will rescue you,
    and you will give me glory.”

⁵ Oh, what a day of crushing defeat!
    What a day of confusion and terror
brought by the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    upon the Valley of Vision!
The walls of Jerusalem have been broken,
    and cries of death echo from the mountainsides.

⁸ The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.