⁸Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:

⁹That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.

¹⁰They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.

¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted.

¹²Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country.

¹³Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.

¹⁴And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.

¹⁵Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.

¹⁶Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes.

¹⁷Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.

¹⁸Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee.

¹⁹For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.

²⁰The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.

²¹And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they?

Read in Logos

Isaiah 49:8: Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages…

Public Domain