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

23 Kings will be your guardians

and their queensC your nursing mothers.f

They will bow down to you

with their faces to the ground

and lick the dust at your feet.g

Then you will know that I am the Lord;h

those who put their hope in me

will not be put to shame.i

24 Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,

or the captives of a tyrantD be delivered?

25 For this is what the Lord says:

“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,

and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;

I will contend with the one who contends with you,

and I will save your children.

26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,j

and they will be drunk with their own blood

as with sweet wine.

Then all humanity will know

that I, the Lord, am your Savior,k

and your Redeemer,l the Mighty One of Jacob.”m