30:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. 1 30:2 “The Lord God of Israel says, 2 ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. 3 30:3 For I, the Lord, affirm 4 that the time will come when I will reverse the plight 5 of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors 6 and they will take possession of it once again.’” 7
30:4 So here is what the Lord has to say about Israel and Judah. 8
30:5 Yes, 9 here is what he says:
“You hear cries of panic and of terror;
there is no peace in sight. 10
30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: 11
Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?
Why then do I see all these strong men
grabbing their stomachs in pain like 12 a woman giving birth?
And why do their faces
turn so deathly pale?
30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! 13
There has never been any like it.
It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,
but some of them will be rescued out of it. 14
30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” 15
says the Lord who rules over all, 16
“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. 17
I will deliver you from captivity. 18
Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.
30:9 But they will be subject 19 to the Lord their God
and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them. 20
30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servants. 21
Do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from a faraway land where you are captives. 22
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them. 23