Isaiah 49:14-21

International Standard Version

¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    or have no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these mothers may forget;
    But as for me, I’ll never forget you!
¹⁶ Look! I’ve inscribed you on the palms of my hands,
    and^[b] your walls are forever before me.
¹⁷ Your builders^[c] are working faster than your destroyers,
    and those who devastated you go away from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around—
    they have all gathered together
        and are coming to you.

“As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
    “you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments,
        and tie them on like a bride.
¹⁹ Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places,
    and your devastated land
will now be too crowded for your inhabitants,
    while those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰ “The children who are grieving at present^[d]
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too crowded for me;
    make room for me,
        so I may have a place to live.’
²¹ Then you’ll ask^[e] in your heart,
    ‘Who bore these children for me,
although I was childless and barren,
    and^[f] an exile^[g] and cast aside?
Who^[h] brought these up?
    Look!^[i] For my part I was left all alone;
        but as for these, where have they come from?’