to say to the captives,(A) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,(B) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.(C)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,(D)
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.(E)
He who has compassion(F) on them will guide(G) them
    and lead them beside springs(H) of water.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
    and my highways(I) will be raised up.(J)
12 See, they will come from afar(K)
    some from the north, some from the west,(L)
    some from the region of Aswan.[a]

13 Shout for joy,(M) you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;(N)
    burst into song, you mountains!(O)
For the Lord comforts(P) his people
    and will have compassion(Q) on his afflicted ones.(R)

14 But Zion(S) said, “The Lord has forsaken(T) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

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

19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate(AC)
    and your land laid waste,(AD)
now you will be too small for your people,(AE)
    and those who devoured(AF) 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.’(AG)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?(AH)
I was bereaved(AI) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.(AJ)
    Who brought these(AK) up?
I was left(AL) all alone,(AM)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

22 This is what the Sovereign Lord(AN) says:

“See, I will beckon to the nations,
    I will lift up my banner(AO) to the peoples;
they will bring(AP) your sons in their arms
    and carry your daughters on their hips.(AQ)
23 Kings(AR) will be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.(AS)
They will bow down(AT) before you with their faces to the ground;
    they will lick the dust(AU) at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;(AV)
    those who hope(AW) in me will not be disappointed.(AX)

24 Can plunder be taken from warriors,(AY)
    or captives be rescued from the fierce[b]?

25 But this is what the Lord says:

“Yes, captives(AZ) will be taken from warriors,(BA)
    and plunder retrieved from the fierce;(BB)
I will contend with those who contend with you,(BC)
    and your children I will save.(BD)
26 I will make your oppressors(BE) eat(BF) their own flesh;
    they will be drunk on their own blood,(BG) as with wine.
Then all mankind will know(BH)
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior,(BI)
    your Redeemer,(BJ) the Mighty One of Jacob.(BK)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim
  2. Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 25); Masoretic Text righteous

That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

14 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

22 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?

25 But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

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