As a mother consoles a child, ¹  so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

This is what the Lord says: “Where is your mother’s divorce certificate by which I divorced her? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ¹  Look, you were sold because of your sins; ²  because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ³ 

Who is the Lord ¹  trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? ²  Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ³ 

Listen to me, you coastlands! ¹  Pay attention, you people who live far away! The Lord summoned me from birth; ²  he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³ 

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ¹  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ² 

Danger awaits one who says ¹  to his father, “What in the world ²  are you fathering?” and to his mother, “What in the world are you bringing forth?” ³ 

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 

“This is what Hezekiah says: ¹  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, ²  and humiliation, ³  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ⁴ 

Kings will be your children’s ¹  guardians; their princesses will nurse your children. ²  With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you and they will lick the dirt on ³  your feet. Then you will recognize that I am the Lord; those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; ¹  he leads the ewes along.

Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile; there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. ¹ 

Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea ¹  says this, O fortress of the sea: “I have not gone into labor or given birth; I have not raised young men or brought up young women.” ²