8. Jerusalem, you used to be like a guard tower for my flock. City of Zion, you used to be a place of safety for my people. The glorious kingdom you had before will be given back to you. Once again a king will rule over your people."
9. Why are you crying out so loudly now? Don't you have a king? Have your advisers died? Is that why pain comes on you like the pain of a woman having a baby?
10. People of Zion, groan with pain. Cry out like a woman having a baby. Soon you must leave your city. You must camp in the open fields. You will have to go to Babylonia. But that's where the Lord will save you. There he will set you free from the powerful hand of your enemies.
11. But now many nations have gathered together to attack you. They say, "Let Jerusalem be polluted. We want to see others laugh when Zion suffers!"
12. But those nations don't know what the Lord has in mind. They don't understand his plan. He will gather them up like bundles of grain. He will take them to his threshing floor.