4 These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
5 For the Lord says:“We have heard a voice of trembling;a voice 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 will be saved out of it.
8 It will come to pass in that day, says the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,and will burst your bonds.Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;
9 but they will serve the Lord their God,and David their king,whom I will raise up to them.
10 Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord.Don’t be dismayed, Israel.For, behold, I will save you from afar,and save your offspring from the land of their captivity.Jacob will return,and will be quiet and at ease.No one will make him afraid.