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Restoration Promised after Exile

⁶ On that day, says the Lord,
   I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away,
   and those whom I have afflicted.
⁷ The lame I will make the remnant,
   and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
   now and for evermore.

⁸ And you, O tower of the flock,
   hill of daughter Zion,
to you it shall come,
   the former dominion shall come,
   the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.

⁹ Now why do you cry aloud?
   Is there no king in you?
Has your counsellor perished,
   that pangs have seized you like a woman in labour?
¹⁰ Writhe and groan,^* O daughter Zion,
   like a woman in labour;
for now you shall go forth from the city
   and camp in the open country;
   you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued,
   there the Lord will redeem you
   from the hands of your enemies.

¹¹ Now many nations
   are assembled against you,
saying, ‘Let her be profaned,
   and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.’
¹² But they do not know
   the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
   that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing-floor.
¹³ Arise and thresh,
   O daughter Zion,
for I will make your horn iron
   and your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples,
   and shall^* devote their gain to the Lord,
   their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.