This is what the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says: For your sake I will send ⌞an army⌟ to Babylon. I will bring back all the Babylonian refugees in the ships that they take pride in.
Look at the land of the Babylonians. These people will be gone. Assyria gave this land to the desert animals. Assyria set up battle towers, stripped palaces bare, and turned these places into ruins.
The Lord created Jacob and formed Israel. Now, this is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid, because I have reclaimed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
The Lord reclaimed you. He formed you in the womb. This is what the Lord says: I, the Lord, made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself. I spread out the earth all alone.
The Lord is Israel’s king and defender. He is the Lord of Armies. This is what the Lord says: I am the first and the last, and there is no God except me.
This is what the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the Lord your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go.
I will make my holy name known among my people Israel, and I will never let them dishonor my holy name again. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
Daughter of Zion, writhe in pain and groan like a woman in labor. Now you will leave the city, live in the open fields, and go to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the Lord will reclaim you from your enemies.
Then they sang a new song, “You deserve to take the scroll and open the seals on it, because you were slaughtered. You bought people with your blood to be God’s own. They are from every tribe, language, people, and nation.