66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”
asks the Lord.
“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”
asks your God. 1
66:10 Be happy for Jerusalem
and rejoice with her, all you who love her!
Share in her great joy,
all you who have mourned over her!
66:11 For 2 you will nurse from her satisfying breasts and be nourished; 3
you will feed with joy from her milk-filled breasts. 4
66:12 For this is what the Lord says:
“Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river,
the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. 5
You will nurse from her breast 6 and be carried at her side;
you will play on her knees.
66:13 As a mother consoles a child, 7
so I will console you,
and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”
66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, 8
and you will be revived. 9
The Lord will reveal his power to his servants
and his anger to his enemies. 10
1 sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”
2 tn Or “in order that”; ASV, NRSV “that.”
3 tn Heb “you will suck and be satisfied, from her comforting breast.”
4 tn Heb “you will slurp and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”
sn Zion’s residents will benefit from and enjoy her great material prosperity. See v. 12.
5 tn Heb “Look, I am ready to extend to her like a river prosperity [or “peace”], and like an overflowing stream, the riches of nations.”
6 tn The words “from her breast” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 11).
7 tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”
8 tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”
9 tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”
10 tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”