Read the Bible

‘We have heard a sound of trembling,
    terror, and there is no peace.
⁶ Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child.
    Why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth?
    And why are all their faces changed to paleness?
⁷ Alas! For that day is great,
    there is none like it.^[f]
And it is a time of distress for Jacob,
    yet from it he will be delivered.
⁸ And it will happen on that day,' declares^[g] Yahweh of hosts,
    ‘I will break his yoke from your neck
and your bonds I will tear to pieces.
    And strangers will no longer let him work as a slave.
⁹ But they will serve Yahweh their God,
    and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
¹⁰ But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,' declares^[h] Yahweh,
    ‘and you must not be dismayed, Israel,
for look, I am going to save you from far,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob will return,
    and he will be at rest,
and he will be at ease,
    and there will be no one who makes him^[i] afraid.
¹¹ For I am with you,' declares^[j] Yahweh, ‘to save you.
    For I will make a complete destruction
of all the nations to which I scattered you,
    but you I will not make a complete destruction.
And I will chastise you to the measure,
    and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.'

‘Your injury is incurable,
    your wound is overcome by sickness.
¹³ There is no one who pleads your cause,
    for your boil there is no healing for you.
¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you,
    they do not care for you.
I have struck you with the blow of an enemy,
    the punishment of the cruel,
because of the greatness of your guilt,
    your sins are numerous.
¹⁵ Why do you cry because of your wound?
    Your pain is incurable.
Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast—
    I have done these things to you.
¹⁶ Therefore^[k] all those who devour you will be devoured,
    and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity,
and those who plunder you will be as plunder,
    and all those who plunder you I will make as plunder.
¹⁷ For I will present healing to you,
    and I will heal you of your wounds,' declares^[l] Yahweh.
‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying,
    "It is Zion, there is no one who cares for her."'

‘Look, I will restore the fortunes^[m] of the tents of Jacob,
    and I will have compassion on his dwellings,
and the city will be rebuilt upon its mound,
    and the citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.
¹⁹ And thanksgiving and the sound of merrymakers
    will come out from them,
and I will make them numerous,
    and they will not be few.
And I will make them honored,
    and they will not be lowly.
²⁰ And their children will be as of old,
    and their community will be established before me.^[n]
And I will punish all their oppressors.
²¹     And their noble will be from them,
and their ruler will come out from their midst.
    And I will bring him near and he will approach me.
For who is he that would pledge his heart to approach me?' declares^[o] Yahweh.
²² ‘And you will be to me a people,
    and I will be to you God.'"
²³ Look, the storm of Yahweh!
    Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest.
    It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
²⁴ The burning anger of Yahweh^[p] will not turn back until his doing,
    and until his accomplishing the plans of his mind.^[q]
In the last of the days you will understand it.