Yeremia 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹ 

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 ²  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Yeremia 30:10

30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servants. ³ 

Do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from a faraway land where you are captives. ⁴ 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them. ⁵ 

[30:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ² tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[30:10]  ³ tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the Lord.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

[30:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”

[30:10]  ⁵ sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.