Isaiah 49:8–21

⁸Thus saith Jehovah, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages: ⁹saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture. ¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them. ¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. ¹²Lo, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. ¹³Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for Jehovah hath comforted his people, and will have compassion upon his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. ¹⁵Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee. ¹⁶Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. ¹⁷Thy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee. ¹⁸Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them, like a bride. ¹⁹For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places, and thy land that hath been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. ²⁰The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. ²¹Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?