Isaiah 49:8-16

8This is what the Lord says: ‘I will answer your prayers at the time that I have chosen to help you. Yes, I will come to save you on that day. I will keep you safe, so that I can make a covenant with people through you. You will make the land safe again. People will return to live there, in places that had become empty.

9You will say to the prisoners, “Come out!” You will say to people who are in dark prisons, “Come outside!” Then they will be free to find food for themselves. They will eat along the road and on the tops of the hills.

10They will not be hungry or thirsty. The strong heat of the sun will not hurt them. The one who loves them will be their guide. He will lead them to drink from springs of water.

11I will make all my mountains become roads. I will build good roads for my people to travel on.

12Look! People will return to the land from places that are far away. Yes, some of them will come from the north and from the west. And some will come from the land of Sinim.’

13Shout with joy, everything in the sky! Be happy, everything on the earth! Sing loudly, you mountains! Be happy, because the Lord comforts his people. He will be kind to his people who have trouble and pain.

14But Zion's people said, ‘The Lord has left us alone. The Lord God has forgotten about us.’

15The Lord replies, ‘Can a mother forget the baby who drinks milk at her breast? Can she refuse to be kind to the child that she has given birth to? Perhaps those mothers might forget their children. But I would not ever forget you, Zion.

16Look! I have written your name on my own hand. I always see the walls of your city in my mind.