Isaiah 49:13-23

New International Version

¹³ Shout for joy,^(A) you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;^(B)
    burst into song, you mountains!^(C)
For the Lord comforts^(D) his people
    and will have compassion^(E) on his afflicted ones.^(F)

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

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(I) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(J)
16 See, I have engraved^(K) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls^(L) are ever before me.
¹⁷ Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste^(M) depart from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around;
    all your children gather^(N) and come to you.
As surely as I live,^(O)” declares the Lord,
    “you will wear^(P) them all as ornaments;
    you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹ “Though you were ruined and made desolate^(Q)
    and your land laid waste,^(R)
now you will be too small for your people,^(S)
    and those who devoured^(T) you will be far away.
²⁰ The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’^(U)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?^(V)
I was bereaved^(W) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.^(X)
    Who brought these^(Y) up?
I was left^(Z) all alone,^(AA)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

“See, I will beckon to the nations,
    I will lift up my banner^(AC) to the peoples;
they will bring^(AD) your sons in their arms
    and carry your daughters on their hips.^(AE)
23 Kings^(AF) will be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.^(AG)
They will bow down^(AH) before you with their faces to the ground;
    they will lick the dust^(AI) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;^(AJ)
    those who hope^(AK) in me will not be disappointed.^(AL)”