1  But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have ^vredeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

11  For the Lord ^chas ransomed Jacob

and has ^dredeemed him from hands too strong for him.

10  Writhe and groan,¹ O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for now you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

^bthere the Lord will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

8  “I will ^cwhistle for them and gather them in,

for I have redeemed them,

and they shall be as many as they were before.