ZION REMEMBERED

14 Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;

the Lord has forgotten me!”

15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or lack compassion for the child of her womb?

Even if these forget,

yet I will not forget you.

16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;v

your walls are continually before me.

17 Your buildersG hurry;

those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

18 Look up, and look around.

They all gather together; they come to you.a

As I live”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“you will wear all your childrenA as jewelry,

and put them on as a bride does.

19 For your waste and desolate places

and your land marked by ruins

will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,b

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 Yet as you listen, the children

that you have been deprived of will say,

‘This place is too small for me;

make room for me so that I may settle.’c

21 Then you will say within yourself,

‘Who fathered these for me?

I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,

exiled and wandering—

but who brought them up?

See, I was left by myself—

but these, where did they come from?’ ”B

22 This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my banner to the peoples.d

They will bring your sons in their arms,

and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.e