⁷ “Before the birth pains even begin,
    Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
⁸ 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.
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.

¹⁰ “Rejoice with Jerusalem!
    Be glad with her, all you who love her
    and all you who mourn for her.
¹¹ Drink deeply of her glory
    even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

¹² This is what the Lord says:
“I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity.
    The wealth of the nations will flow to her.
Her children will be nursed at her breasts,
    carried in her arms, and held on her lap.
¹³ I will comfort you there in Jerusalem
    as a mother comforts her child.”

¹⁴ When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.
    You will flourish like the grass!
Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants—
    and his anger against his enemies.