Isaiah 49:14-21

English Standard Version

¹⁴But Zion said, ^(A)“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵^(B)“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you.
¹⁶Behold, ^(C)I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.
¹⁷Your builders make haste;^[a]
    ^(D)your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
¹⁸^(E)Lift up your eyes around and see;
    they all gather, they come to you.
^(F)As I live, declares the Lord,
    ^(G)you shall put them all on as an ornament;
    you shall bind them on as a bride does.

¹⁹“Surely your waste and your desolate places
    and your devastated land—
^(H)surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
    and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
²⁰^(I)The children of your bereavement
    will yet say in your ears:
^(J)‘The place is too narrow for me;
    make room for me to dwell in.’
²¹Then you will say in your heart:
    ‘Who has borne me these?
^(K)I was bereaved and barren,
    exiled and put away,
    but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
    from where have these come?’”