Isaiah 49:17–23

¹⁷Your children hasten back,

and those who laid you waste^a depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes and look around;

all your children gather^b and come to you.

As surely as I live,^c” declares the Lord,

“you will wear^d them all as ornaments;

you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹“Though you were ruined and made desolate^e

and your land laid waste,^f

now you will be too small for your people,^g

and those who devoured^h you will be far away.

²⁰The children born during your bereavement

will yet say in your hearing,

‘This place is too small for us;

give us more space to live in.’ⁱ

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who bore me these?^j

I was bereaved^k and barren;

I was exiled and rejected.^l

Who brought these^m up?

I was leftⁿ all alone,^o

but these—where have they come from?’ ”

²²This is what the Sovereign Lord^p says:

“See, I will beckon to the nations,

I will lift up my banner^q to the peoples;

they will bring^r your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their hips.^s

²³Kings^t will be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.^u

They will bow down^v before you with their faces to the ground;

they will lick the dust^w at your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;^x

those who hope^y in me will not be disappointed.^z”