Isaiah 49:14-21

Amplified Bible

¹⁴ 
But Zion (Jerusalem in captivity) said, “The Lord has abandoned me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
¹⁵ 
[The Lord answered] “Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
¹⁶ 
“Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the ^[a]palms of My hands;
Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.
¹⁷ 
“Your ^[b]builders hurry;
Your destroyers and devastators
Will go away from you.
¹⁸ 
“Lift up your eyes and look around [at the returning exiles];
All these gather together and they come to you [to rebuild you].
As I live,” declares the Lord,
“You [Zion] will indeed clothe yourself with all of them as jewels and tie them on as a bride.
¹⁹ 
“For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction—
Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who once engulfed you will be far away.
²⁰ 
“The children of your bereavement [those born in captivity] will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me’;
Make room for me that I may live here.
²¹ 
“Then [Zion], you will say in your heart,
‘Who has borne me these children,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And am barren, an exile and a wanderer?
And who has reared these?
Indeed, I was left alone;
^[c]From where then did these children come?’”