“I have stirred him up in righteousness, and all his ways I make straight. He builds My city and lets My exiles go, not for price nor reward,” declares יהוה of hosts.
“Who raised up the righteous one from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made sovereigns submit to him? He gave them as the dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow.
“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes; from the rising of the sun he calls on My Name. And he comes against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay.
“I, יהוה, have called You in righteousness, and I take hold of Your hand and guard You, and give You for a covenant to a people, for a light to the gentiles,
calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a distant land. Indeed I have spoken it, I also bring it to pass. I have planned it, I also do it.
Yet thus said יהוה, “Even the captives of the mighty is taken away, and the prey of the ruthless is delivered; and I strive with him who strives with you, and I save your children.
“And now, what have I here,” declares יהוה, “that My people are taken away for naught? Those who rule over them make them wail,” declares יהוה, “and My Name is despised all day continually.
Be in pain, and deliver, O daughter of Tsiyon, like a woman in labour. For now you are to leave the city, and you shall dwell in the field. And you shall go to Baḇ