Isaiah 49:14–21

The Lord Has Not Forgotten Israel

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me. 

My Lord has forgotten me.” 

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child? 

Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? 

Although mothers may forget, 

I will not forget you. 

¹⁶I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. 

Your walls are always in my presence. 

¹⁷Your children will hurry back. 

Those who destroyed you and laid waste to you will leave you. 

¹⁸Look up, look around, and watch! 

All of your children are gathering together and returning to you. 

“I solemnly swear as I live,” declares the Lord, 

“you will wear all of them like jewels 

and display them on yourself as a bride would.” 

¹⁹Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins, 

you will be too crowded for ⸤your⸥ people now. 

Those who devoured you will be long gone. 

²⁰The children taken from you will say to you, 

“This place is too crowded for me. 

Make room for me to live here.” 

²¹Then you will ask yourself, 

“Who has fathered these ⸤children⸥ for me? 

I was childless and unable to have children. 

I was exiled and rejected. 

Who raised these ⸤children for me⸥? 

I was left alone. 

Where have they come from?”