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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.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:10 Hebrew O daughter of Zion.

20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
    Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.[a]
Sing out this message!
    Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
    the people of Israel.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 48:20a Or the Chaldeans.
  2. 48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.

18 Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.”

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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!

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The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel

14 “But then I will win her back once again.
    I will lead her into the desert
    and speak tenderly to her there.

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Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song,
    for the Lord has comforted his people.
    He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has demonstrated his holy power
    before the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see
    the victory of our God.

11 Get out! Get out and leave your captivity,
    where everything you touch is unclean.
Get out of there and purify yourselves,
    you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord.
12 You will not leave in a hurry,
    running for your lives.
For the Lord will go ahead of you;
    yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

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13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
    and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people—
    without seeking a reward!
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

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The Lord’s Promise of Victory

14 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon,
    forcing the Babylonians[a] to flee in those ships they are so proud of.

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Footnotes

  1. 43:14 Or Chaldeans.

14 But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon[a] for a time, times, and half a time.

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Footnotes

  1. 12:14 Greek the serpent; also in 12:15. See 12:9.

Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!”

After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me[a] against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.[b] I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:8a The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  2. 2:8b Hebrew Anyone who touches you touches the pupil of his eye.

Do not gloat over me, my enemies!
    For though I fall, I will rise again.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
I will be patient as the Lord punishes me,
    for I have sinned against him.
But after that, he will take up my case
    and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies.
The Lord will bring me into the light,
    and I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemies will see that the Lord is on my side.
    They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying,
“So where is the Lord
    that God of yours?”
With my own eyes I will see their downfall;
    they will be trampled like mud in the streets.

11 In that day, Israel, your cities will be rebuilt,
    and your borders will be extended.
12 People from many lands will come and honor you—
    from Assyria all the way to the towns of Egypt,
from Egypt all the way to the Euphrates River,[a]
    and from distant seas and mountains.
13 But the land[b] will become empty and desolate
    because of the wickedness of those who live there.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:12 Hebrew the river.
  2. 7:13 Or earth.

10 [a]“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’

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Footnotes

  1. 1:10 Verses 1:10-11 are numbered 2:1-2 in Hebrew text.

21 Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
    I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

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“Before the birth pains even begin,
    Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?
    Who ever heard of such a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
    Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
But by the time Jerusalem’s[a] birth pains begin,
    her children will be born.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. 66:8 Hebrew Zion’s.

10 So he rescued them from their enemies
    and redeemed them from their foes.

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20 The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

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20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

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Cyrus Allows the Exiles to Return

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia,[a] the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah.[b] He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

“This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:1a The first year of Cyrus’s reign over Babylon was 538 B.c.
  2. 1:1b See Jer 25:11-12; 29:10.

11 So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

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Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,[a] the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped[b] through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 25:4a Or the Chaldeans; also in 25:13, 25, 26.
  2. 25:4b As in Greek version (see also Jer 39:4; 52:7); Hebrew lacks escaped.
  3. 25:4c Hebrew the Arabah.

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