17  xLike a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

18  xwe were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19  yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For zyour dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.

20  Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves afor a little while

until the fury has passed by.

21  bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of cthe earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

The Redemption of Israel

27 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong dsword will punish eLeviathan the fleeing serpent, eLeviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay fthe dragon that is in the sea.