Isaiah 49:14-21

Expanded Bible

¹⁵ The Lord answers, “Can a woman forget the baby she nurses?
    Can she feel no kindness for the child ·to which she gave birth [of her womb]?
Even if she could forget her children,
    I will not forget you.
¹⁶ See, I have ·written [engraved; inscribed] your name on my ·hand [palms].
    ·Jerusalem, I always think about your walls [^LYour walls are always before me; ^Cdestroyed by the Babylonians].
¹⁷ Your children ·will soon return to you [^Lhurry; hasten],
    and the people who defeated you and destroyed you will leave.
¹⁸ ·Look up [^LLift up your eyes] and look around you.
    All your children are gathering to return to you.”
The Lord says, “As surely as I live,
    ·your children will be [^Lyou will wear them all] like ·jewels [or ornaments]
·that a bride wears proudly [^Lyou will put them on like a bride].

¹⁹ “You were destroyed and defeated,
    and your land was made ·useless [desolate].
But now you will have more people than the land can hold,
    and those people who ·destroyed [devoured] you will be far away.
²⁰ The children ·born to you while you were sad [^Lof your bereavement]
    will say to you,
‘This place is too small for us.
    Give us a bigger place to live.’
²¹ Then you will say ·to yourself [^Lin your heart],
    ‘Who ·gave me all these children [bore me these]?
I was ·sad [bereaved] and ·lonely [barren],
    ·defeated [rejected] and ·separated from my people [exiled].
    So who reared these children?
I was left all alone.
    Where did all these children come from?’”