49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you ¹  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ² 

to rebuild ³  the land ⁴ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

49:9 You will say ⁵  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ⁶  ‘Emerge.’ ⁷ 

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;

the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ⁸ 

for one who has compassion on them will guide them;

he will lead them to springs of water.

49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;

I will construct my roadways.”

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim! ⁹ 

49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! ¹⁰ 

Rejoice, O earth!

Let the mountains give a joyful shout!

For the Lord consoles his people

and shows compassion to the ¹¹  oppressed.

49:14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,

the sovereign master ¹²  has forgotten me.’

49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹³ 

Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ¹⁴ 

Even if mothers ¹⁵  were to forget,

I could never forget you! ¹⁶ 

49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name ¹⁷  on my palms;

your walls are constantly before me.

1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. ¹  It was so. ²