Restoration of Israel

8 This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favorw I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you;x

I will keepy you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,z

to restore the landa

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,b

9 to say to the captives,c ‘Come out,’

and to those in darkness,d ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads

and find pasture on every barren hill.e

10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,f

nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.g

He who has compassionh on them will guidei them

and lead them beside springsj of water.

11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,

and my highwaysk will be raised up.l

12 See, they will come from afarm—

some from the north, some from the west,n

some from the region of Aswan.b”

13 Shout for joy,o you heavens;

rejoice, you earth;p

burst into song, you mountains!q

For the Lord comfortsr his people

and will have compassions on his afflicted ones.t

14 But Zionu said, “The Lord has forsakenv me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the childw she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!x

16 See, I have engravedy you on the palms of my hands;

your wallsz are ever before me.