Isaiah 49:14-21

New English Translation

¹⁴ “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord^[a] has forgotten me.’
¹⁵ Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?^[b]
Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?^[c]
Even if mothers^[d] were to forget,
I could never forget you!^[e]
16 Look, I have inscribed your name^[f] on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
¹⁷ Your children hurry back,
while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.
¹⁸ Look all around you!^[g]
All of them gather to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;
you will put them on as if you were a bride.
¹⁹ Yes, your land lies in ruins;
it is desolate and devastated.^[h]
But now you will be too small to hold your residents,
and those who devoured you will be far away.
²⁰ Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us,^[i]
make room for us so we can live here.’^[j]
21 Then you will think to yourself,^[k]
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced.^[l]
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”