Isaiah 49:8-16

New International Version

“In the time of my favor^(A) I will answer you,
    and in the day of salvation I will help you;^(B)
I will keep^(C) you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people,^(D)
to restore the land^(E)
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances,^(F)
9 to say to the captives,^(G) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,^(H) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.^(I)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,^(J)
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.^(K)
He who has compassion^(L) on them will guide^(M) them
    and lead them beside springs^(N) of water.
¹¹ I will turn all my mountains into roads,
    and my highways^(O) will be raised up.^(P)
12 See, they will come from afar^(Q)—
    some from the north, some from the west,^(R)
    some from the region of Aswan.^[a]”

¹³ Shout for joy,^(S) you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;^(T)
    burst into song, you mountains!^(U)
For the Lord comforts^(V) his people
    and will have compassion^(W) on his afflicted ones.^(X)

¹⁴ But Zion^(Y) said, “The Lord has forsaken^(Z) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(AA) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(AB)
16 See, I have engraved^(AC) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls^(AD) are ever before me.