Isaiah 49:8–21

Restoration of Israel

⁸This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor^w I will answer you,

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

I will keep^y you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,^z

to restore the land^a

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,^b

⁹to 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

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst,^f

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

He who has compassion^h on them will guideⁱ them

and lead them beside springs^j of water.

¹¹I will turn all my mountains into roads,

and my highways^k will be raised up.^l

¹²See, they will come from afar^m—

some from the north, some from the west,ⁿ

some from the region of Aswan.^b”

¹³Shout for joy,^o you heavens;

rejoice, you earth;^p

burst into song, you mountains!^q

For the Lord comforts^r his people

and will have compassion^s on his afflicted ones.^t

¹⁴But Zion^u said, “The Lord has forsaken^v me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child^w she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!^x

¹⁶See, I have engraved^y you on the palms of my hands;

your walls^z are ever before me.

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?’ ”