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Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together;
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
    my Lord has forgotten me.”(A)
15 Can a mother forget her infant,
    be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
    I will never forget you.(B)
16 See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you;[a]
    your walls are ever before me.
17 Your children hasten—
    your levelers, your destroyers
    go forth from you;
18 Look about and see,
    they are all gathering and coming to you.
As I live—oracle of the Lord
    you shall don them as jewels,
    bedeck yourself like a bride.

19 Though you were waste and desolate,
    a land of ruins,
Now you shall be too narrow for your inhabitants,
    while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of whom you were bereft
    shall yet say in your hearing,
“This place is too narrow for me,
    make room for me to live in.”
21 You shall ask yourself:
    “Who has borne me these,
    when I was bereft and barren?
Exiled and repudiated,
    who has reared them?
I was left all alone;
    where then do these come from?”(C)
22     Thus says the Lord God:
See, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
    and to the peoples raise my signal;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
    your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.(D)
23 Kings shall be your guardians,
    their princesses your nursemaids;
Face to the ground, they shall bow down before you
    and lick the dust at your feet.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
    none who hope in me shall be ashamed.
24 Can plunder be taken from a warrior,
    or captives rescued from a tyrant?
25     Thus says the Lord:
Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior,
    and plunder rescued from a tyrant;
Those who oppose you I will oppose,
    and your sons I will save.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
    and they shall be drunk with their own blood
    as though with new wine.
All flesh shall know
    that I, the Lord, am your savior,
    your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 49:16 Upon the palms…you: for continual remembrance; cf. Ex 13:9, 16; Dt 6:6–9.

The Cup of the Lord

17 Wake up, wake up!
    Arise, Jerusalem,
You who drank at the Lord’s hand
    the cup of his wrath;
Who drained to the dregs
    the bowl of staggering!(A)
18 She has no one to guide her
    of all the children she bore;
She has no one to take her by the hand,
    of all the children she reared!—
19 Your misfortunes are double;
    who is there to grieve with you?
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword!
    Who is there to comfort you?
20 Your children lie helpless
    at every street corner
    like antelopes in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord,
    the rebuke of your God.

21 But now, hear this, afflicted one,
    drunk, but not with wine,(B)
22 Thus says the Lord, your Master,
    your God, who defends his people:
See, I am taking from your hand
    the cup of staggering;
The bowl of my wrath
    you shall no longer drink.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
    those who said to you,
    “Bow down, that we may walk over you.”
So you offered your back like the ground,
    like the street for them to walk on.

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