Isaiah 49:13-23

13Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.

14But Zion (Jerusalem in captivity) said, “The Lord has abandoned me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”

15[The Lord answered] “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

16Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the palms of My hands; Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.

17Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators Will go away from you.

18Lift up your eyes and look around [at the returning exiles]; All these gather together and they come to you [to rebuild you]. As I live,” declares the Lord, “You [Zion] will indeed clothe yourself with all of them as jewels and tie them on as a bride.

19For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction— Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants, And those who once engulfed you will be far away.

20The children of your bereavement [those born in captivity] will yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me’; Make room for me that I may live here.

21Then [Zion], you will say in your heart, ‘Who has borne me these children, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Indeed, I was left alone; From where then did these children come?’ ”

22This is what the Lord God says, “Listen carefully, I will lift up My hand to the [Gentile] nations And set up My banner to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in the fold of their garments, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

23Kings will be your attendants, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you shall know [with an understanding based on personal experience] that I am the Lord; For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.