“I, I am the one who consoles you. Why are you afraid of mortal men, of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass?

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God.

The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you; all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet. They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you!

(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man;

The people who do this will be blessed, the people who commit themselves to obedience, who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, who refrain from doing anything that is wrong.

For these are rebellious people – they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law.

All your children will be followers of the Lord, and your children will enjoy great prosperity.

He said, “Certainly they will be my people, children who are not disloyal.” He became their deliverer.

Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” Indeed, the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him, concerning things to come: “How dare you question me about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands!

Your children hurry back, while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.

“Foreigners will take care of your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: “I will never again give your grain to your enemies as food, and foreigners will not drink your wine, which you worked hard to produce.

A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!

Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me!

I will sing to my love – a song to my lover about his vineyard. My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

Foreigners will rebuild your walls; their kings will serve you. Even though I struck you down in my anger, I will restore my favor and have compassion on you.

The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.