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These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For Yahweh says:

“We have heard a voice of trembling;
    a voice of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child.
    Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail,
    and all faces are turned pale?
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it.
    It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;
    but he will be saved out of it.
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,
    and will burst your bonds.
    Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;
but they will serve Yahweh their God,
    and David their king,
    whom I will raise up to them.
10 Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh.
    Don’t be dismayed, Israel.
For, behold, I will save you from afar,
    and save your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
    and will be quiet and at ease.
    No one will make him afraid.
11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you;
    for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you,
    but I will not make a full end of you;
but I will correct you in measure,
    and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

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This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah. This is what the Lord says:

“I hear cries of fear;
    there is terror and no peace.
Now let me ask you a question:
    Do men give birth to babies?
Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,
    hands pressed against their sides
    like a woman in labor?
In all history there has never been such a time of terror.
    It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel.[a]
    Yet in the end they will be saved!
For in that day,”
    says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“I will break the yoke from their necks
    and snap their chains.
Foreigners will no longer be their masters.
    For my people will serve the Lord their God
and their king descended from David—
    the king I will raise up for them.

10 “So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;
    do not be dismayed, Israel,”
    says the Lord.
“For I will bring you home again from distant lands,
    and your children will return from their exile.
Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet,
    and no one will terrorize them.
11 For I am with you and will save you,”
    says the Lord.
“I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you,
    but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you, but with justice;
    I cannot let you go unpunished.”

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Footnotes

  1. 30:7 Hebrew Jacob; also in 30:10b, 18. See note on 5:20.