Isaiah 49:8–21

Promises of Israel’s Restoration

⁸This is what the Lord says:

“At just the right time, I will respond to you.

On the day of salvation I will help you.

I will protect you and give you to the people

as my covenant with them.

Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel

and assign it to its own people again.

⁹I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’

They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures

and on hills that were previously bare.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst.

The searing sun will not reach them anymore.

For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;

he will lead them beside cool waters.

¹¹And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.

The highways will be raised above the valleys.

¹²See, my people will return from far away,

from lands to the north and west,

and from as far south as Egypt.”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens!

Rejoice, O earth!

Burst into song, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

¹⁴Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;

the Lord has forgotten us.”

¹⁵“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?

Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?

But even if that were possible,

I would not forget you!

¹⁶See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.

¹⁷Soon your descendants will come back,

and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.

¹⁸Look around you and see,

for all your children will come back to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

¹⁹“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land

will soon be crowded with your people.

Your enemies who enslaved you

will be far away.

²⁰The generations born in exile will return and say,

‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’

²¹Then you will think to yourself,

‘Who has given me all these descendants?

For most of my children were killed,

and the rest were carried away into exile.

I was left here all alone.

Where did all these people come from?

Who bore these children?

Who raised them for me?’ ”