Isaiah 49:8-26

New King James Version

“In an ^(A)acceptable^[a] time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will ^[b]preserve You ^(B)and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate ^[c]heritages;
⁹ That You may say ^(C)to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
¹⁰ They shall neither ^(D)hunger nor thirst,
^(E)Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them ^(F)will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
^11 (G)I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
¹² Surely ^(H)these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”

^13 (I)Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.

¹⁵ “Can^(K) a woman forget her nursing child,
^[d]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
^(L)Yet I will not forget you.
¹⁶ See, ^(M)I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
¹⁷ Your ^[e]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
^18 (N)Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all ^(O)as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.

¹⁹ “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
^(P)Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
^20 (Q)The children you will have,
^(R)After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
²¹ Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My ^[f]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their ^[g]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
^23 (T)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And ^(U)lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
^(V)For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

^24 (W)Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives ^[h]of the righteous be delivered?

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
²⁶ I will ^(X)feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own ^(Y)blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh ^(Z)shall know
That I, the Lord, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”