2 “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Write in a book everything that I tell you.
3 The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.”
4 This is the message that the Lord spoke about Israel and Judah:
5 “This is what the Lord says:“We hear cries of fear, cries of panic, not cries of peace.
6 Ask now, and see: Can a man give birth to a child?Why, then, do I see every strong man holding his stomach in painlike a woman giving birth to a child?Why has every face turned pale?
7 How terrible that day will be!There will be no other day like it.It will be a time of calamity for the descendants of Jacob,but they will be rescued from it.
8 “On that day,” declares the Lord of Armies, “I will break the yokes off your necks and tear off your ropes. Foreigners will no longer make you serve them.