Isaiah 49:15

49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹ 

Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ² 

Even if mothers ³  were to forget,

I could never forget you! ⁴ 

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁵  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁶ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁷  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

[49:15]  ¹ tn Heb “her suckling”; NASB “her nursing child.”

[49:15]  ² tn Heb “so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb?”

[49:15]  ³ tn Heb “these” (so ASV, NASB).

[49:15]  ⁴ sn The argument of v. 15 seems to develop as follows: The Lord has an innate attachment to Zion, just like a mother does for her infant child. But even if mothers were to suddenly abandon their children, the Lord would never forsake Zion. In other words, the Lord’s attachment to Zion is like a mother’s attachment to her infant child, but even stronger.

[49:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁷ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”