Isaiah 49:13-22

Sing for joy, you heavens! Shout, you earth, and rejoice with dancing, shouting, and glee! Burst into joyous songs, you mountains, for YAHWEH has comforted his beloved people. He will show tenderness and compassion to his suffering ones. But Zion has said, “YAHWEH has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me—I’m all alone.” YAHWEH responds, “But how could a loving mother forget her nursing child and not deeply love the one she bore? Even if there is a mother who forgets her child, I could never, no never, forget you. Can’t you see? I have carved your name on the palms of my hands! Your walls are always my concern. Your children, your builders, are running back to you as those who ruined and destroyed you are running away. Lift up your head and look all around you. See! All your children, your builders, gather to come back to you. As surely as I live, I make this promise,” says YAHWEH. “You will wear them all like jewels, as a radiant bride wears her beautiful jewelry! “See? Your ruins and devastated places will soon be overcrowded with settlers while your destroyers stay far away. You thought you had lost the children, but you will hear them say, ‘This place is too cramped for me. Make more room for me to live in.’ And you will say to yourself, ‘Where in the world did all these children come from? Who birthed these for me? I thought I was bereaved and barren. I thought I was all alone, forgotten in exile— so how did they all get here?’ ” This is what Lord YAHWEH says: “Soon I will raise my hand and signal to the nations, and they will come with your little boys bundled in their arms and your little daughters carried on their shoulders.