“I, I am the one who consoles you. ¹  Why are you afraid of mortal men, of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ² 

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. ¹ 

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.’ ¹ 

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 

(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) ¹  he was so disfigured ²  he no longer looked like a man; ³ 

The people who do this will be blessed, ¹  the people who commit themselves to obedience, ²  who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. ³ 

For these are rebellious people – they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ¹ 

All your children will be followers of the Lord, and your children will enjoy great prosperity. ¹ 

He said, “Certainly they will be my people, children who are not disloyal.” ¹  He became their deliverer.

Just a handful of archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be left.” ¹  Indeed, ²  the Lord God of Israel has spoken.

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, ¹  the one who formed him, concerning things to come: ²  “How dare you question me ³  about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with ⁴  the work of my own hands!

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

¹ “Foreigners will take care of ²  your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: ¹  “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. ¹ 

You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled! ¹ 

Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! ¹  For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, ²  I brought them up, ³  but ⁴  they have rebelled ⁵  against me!

I ¹  will sing to my love – a song to my lover about his vineyard. ²  My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill. ³ 

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. ¹ 

¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵