54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!
Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one are more numerous
than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen this?
Can a country 1 be brought forth in one day?
Can a nation be born in a single moment?
Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!
1 tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).