Isaiah 49:17–23

^49:17Your children hurry back,

while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.

^49:18Look all around you!⁴¹

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

^49:19Yes, your land lies in ruins;

it is desolate and devastated.⁴²

But now you will be too small to hold your residents,

and those who devoured you will be far away.

^49:20Yet the children born during your time of bereavement

will say within your hearing,

‘This place is too cramped for us,⁴³

make room for us so we can live here.’⁴⁴

^49:21Then you will think to yourself,⁴⁵

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced.⁴⁶

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’ ”

^49:22This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

^49:23Kings will be your children’s⁴⁷ guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children.⁴⁸

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on⁴⁹ your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.