and had a dream. ¹  He saw ²  a stairway ³  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

In fact, ¹  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion ²  gasping for breath, reaching out for help, ³  saying, “I am done in! ⁴  My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”