Isaiah 49:8–21

⁸Thus says the Lord:

“In a time of favor I have answered you,

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹saying to the prisoners, ‘Come forth,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

They shall feed along the ways,

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²Lo, these shall come from afar,

and lo, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

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

my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her sucking child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders outstrip your destroyers,

and those who laid you waste go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes round about and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

As I live, says the Lord,

you shall put them all on as an ornament,

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

¹⁹“Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

surely now you will be too narrow 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 ears:

‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

I was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

whence then have these come?’ ”