Isaiah 49:20–26

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”

²⁴Can plunder be taken from warriors,^a

or captives be rescued from the fierce^c?

²⁵But this is what the Lord says:

“Yes, captives^b will be taken from warriors,^c

and plunder retrieved from the fierce;^d

I will contend with those who contend with you,^e

and your children I will save.^f

²⁶I will make your oppressors^g eat^h their own flesh;

they will be drunk on their own blood,ⁱ as with wine.

Then all mankind will know^j

that I, the Lord, am your Savior,^k

your Redeemer,^l the Mighty One of Jacob.^m”