4 These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
5 For Yahweh says:
“We have heard a voice of trembling,
of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child.
Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned pale?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it.
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;
but he shall be saved out of it.
8 It shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,
and will burst your bonds;
and strangers shall no more make them their bondservants;
9 but they will serve Yahweh their God,
and David their king,
whom I will raise up to them.
10 Therefore don’t you be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh;
neither be dismayed, Israel:
for, behold, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring+or, seed from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return,
and shall be quiet and at ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you,
but I will not make a full end of you;
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
12 For Yahweh says,
“Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound grievous.
13 There is no one to plead your cause,
that you may be bound up.
You have no healing medicines.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you.
They don’t seek you:
for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,
with the chastisement of a cruel one,
for the greatness of your iniquity,
because your sins were increased.
15 Why do you cry for your hurt?
Your pain is incurable:
for the greatness of your iniquity,
because your sins were increased,
I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured;
and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity;
and those who plunder you shall be plunder,
and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health to you,
and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh;
“because they have called you an outcast,
saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”
18 Yahweh says:
“Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob’s tents,
and have compassion on his dwelling places.
The city shall be built on its own hill,
and the palace shall be inhabited in its own place.
19 Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
and the voice of those who make merry.
I will multiply them,
and they shall not be few;
I will also glorify them,
and they will not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as before,
and their congregation shall be established before me.
I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince shall be of themselves,
and their ruler shall proceed from among them.
I will cause him to draw near,
and he shall approach to me;
for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me?” says Yahweh.
22 “You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
23 Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out,
a sweeping storm:
it shall burst on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return, until he has executed,
and until he has performed the intentions of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it.”