⁶ 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?
⁷ 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!

⁸     and people are terrified.
Pangs of anguish grip them,
    like those of a woman in labor.
They look helplessly at one another,
    their faces aflame with fear.

“Rejoice, O childless woman,
    you who have never given birth!
Break into a joyful shout,
    you who have never been in labor!
For the desolate woman now has more children
    than the woman who lives with her husband!”^[a]

¹⁰ Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,
    you people of Jerusalem,^[a]
for now you must leave this city
    to live in the open country.
You will soon be sent in exile
    to distant Babylon.
But the Lord will rescue you there;
    he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.

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!

¹⁴ “Should I ransom them from the grave^[a]?
    Should I redeem them from death?
O death, bring on your terrors!
    O grave, bring on your plagues!^[b]
    For I will not take pity on them.