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14 Yet Jerusalem[a] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
    Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will come back,
    and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and see,
    for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
    “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

19 “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land
    will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
    will be far away.
20 The generations born in exile will return and say,
    ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21 Then you will think to yourself,
    ‘Who has given me all these descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
    and the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all alone.
    Where did all these people come from?
Who bore these children?
    Who raised them for me?’”

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Footnotes

  1. 49:14 Hebrew Zion.

Zion Remembered

14 Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
the Lord has forgotten me!”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;(A)
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders[a] hurry;
those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.
18 Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.(B)
As I live”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“you will wear all your children[b] as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.
19 For your waste and desolate places
and your land marked by ruins
will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,(C)
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’(D)
21 Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering—
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself—
but these, where did they come from?’” [c]

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Footnotes

  1. 49:17 DSS, Aq, Theod, Vg; MT, Syr, Sym read sons
  2. 49:18 Lit all of them
  3. 49:21 Lit where are they