Isaiah 49:14-21
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh Remembers Zion
14 But[a] Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me!”
15 Can a woman forget her suckling,
refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?
Indeed, these may forget,
but[b] I, I will not forget you!
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hasten;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart[c] from you.
18 Lift your eyes up all around and see;
all of them gather; they come to you.
As surely as I live,[d]
declares[e] Yahweh,
surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,
and you shall bind them on like a bride.
19 Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,[f]
surely now you will be too cramped for your[g] inhabitants,[h]
and those who engulfed you will be far away.
20 Yet the children born when you were bereaved[i] will say in your hearing,[j]
“The place is too cramped for me;
make room[k] for me so that I can dwell.”
21 Then[l] you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?”
And, “I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and thrust away;
so[m] who raised these?
Look at me! I was left alone;
where have these come from?”[n]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:14 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:15 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:17 Or “move away”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “Life I”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “ruin”
- Isaiah 49:19 Literally “cramped by”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “of your bereavement”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “ears”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “approach”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:21 Literally “these where they”
Isaiah 49:14-21
New English Translation
The Lord Remembers Zion
14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord[a] has forgotten me.’
15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?[b]
Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?[c]
Even if mothers[d] were to forget,
I could never forget you![e]
16 Look, I have inscribed your name[f] on my palms;
your walls are constantly before me.
17 Your children hurry back,
while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.
18 Look all around you![g]
All of them gather to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;
you will put them on as if you were a bride.
19 Yes, your land lies in ruins;
it is desolate and devastated.[h]
But now you will be too small to hold your residents,
and those who devoured you will be far away.
20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us,[i]
make room for us so we can live here.’[j]
21 Then you will think to yourself,[k]
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced.[l]
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:14 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”
- Isaiah 49:15 tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).
- Isaiah 49:15 sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.
- Isaiah 49:16 tn Heb “you.” Here the pronoun is put by metonymy for the person’s name.
- Isaiah 49:18 tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”
- Isaiah 49:19 tn Heb “Indeed your ruins and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction.” This statement is abruptly terminated in the Hebrew text and left incomplete.
- Isaiah 49:20 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
- Isaiah 49:20 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
- Isaiah 49:21 tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”
- Isaiah 49:21 tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”
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