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14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
    and the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you!
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
    Your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hurry.
    Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
    all these gather themselves together, and come to you.
As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament,
    and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate places,
    and your land that has been destroyed,
surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants,
    and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement will say in your ears,
    ‘This place is too small for me.
    Give me a place to live in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children
    and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth?
Who has brought these up?
    Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”

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Zion Not Forgotten

14 “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
    and my God[a] has forgotten me.’

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?’

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:14 So 1QIsaa corrector; Lit. my God written above my Lord; MT LXX read my Lord
  2. Isaiah 49:16 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and
  3. Isaiah 49:17 So 1QIsaa Aquila Vulg LXX; MT reads sons
  4. Isaiah 49:20 Lit. children of your bereavement
  5. Isaiah 49:21 Lit. say
  6. Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
  7. Isaiah 49:21 LXX lacks and an exile
  8. Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa. MT LXX read And who
  9. Isaiah 49:21 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks Look!