Isaiah 49:14–21

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”^*

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these might forget,

yet I will not forget you.^*

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

your walls are continually before me.^*

¹⁷Your builders outdo your destroyers,^x

and those who laid you waste go away from you.^*

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see;

they all gather; they come to you.

As I live, says the Lord,

you shall put all of them on like an ornament,

and like a bride you shall bind them on.^*

¹⁹For your wastelands, your desolate places,

and your devastated land—

now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.^*

²⁰The children born in the time of your bereavement

will yet say in your hearing:

“The place is too crowded for me;

make room for me to settle.”^*

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

“Who has borne me these?

I was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away—

so who has reared these?

I was left all alone—

where, then, have these come from?”^*