Isaiah 49:8-9, 14-16, 19-21

8This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

9to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!

14But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

15“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

16See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

19“Though you were ruined and made desolate

and your land laid waste,

now you will be too small for your people,

and those who devoured you will be far away.

20The 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.’

21Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who bore me these?

I was bereaved and barren;

I was exiled and rejected.

Who brought these up?

I was left all alone,

but these—where have they come from?’”