4. These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and to Judah:
5. Thus says the Lord:We hear a cry of fear:terror, not peace.
6. Inquire and see:does a male give birth?Why, then, do I see all these men,their hands on their loinsLike women in labor,all their faces drained of color?
7. Ah! How mighty is that day—there is none like it!A time of distress for Jacob,though he shall be saved from it.
8. On that day—oracle of the Lord of hosts—I will break his yoke off your neck and snap your bonds. Strangers shall no longer enslave them;
9. instead, they shall serve the Lord, their God, and David, their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10. But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear!—oracle of the Lord—do not be dismayed, Israel!For I will soon deliver you from places far away,your offspring from the land of their exile;Jacob shall again find rest,secure, with none to frighten him,