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-men
    holding 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.

8-9 “‘And then I’ll enter the darkness.
    I’ll break the yoke from their necks,
Cut them loose from the harness.
    No more slave labor to foreigners!
They’ll serve their God
    and the David-King I’ll establish for them.

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Ask and see:
    Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
    with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,(A)
    every face turned deathly pale?(B)
How awful that day(C) will be!
    No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble(D) for Jacob,
    but he will be saved(E) out of it.

“‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty,
    ‘I will break the yoke(F) off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;(G)
    no longer will foreigners enslave them.(H)

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