1-2 This is the Message Jeremiah received from God: “God’s Message, the God of Israel: ‘Write everything I tell you in a book.
3 “‘Look. The time is coming when I will turn everything around for my people, both Israel and Judah. I, God, say so. I’ll bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors, and they’ll take up ownership again.’”
4 This is the way God put it to Israel and Judah:
5-7 “God’s Message:“‘Cries of panic are being heard.The peace has been shattered.Ask around! Look around!Can men bear babies?So why do I see all these he-menholding their bellies like women in labor,Faces contorted,pale as death?The blackest of days,no day like it ever!A time of deep trouble for Jacob—but he’ll come out of it alive.