¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,^(A)
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.^(B)

“In the time of my favor^(A) I will answer you,
    and in the day of salvation I will help you;^(B)
I will keep^(C) you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people,^(D)
to restore the land^(E)
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances,^(F)
9 to say to the captives,^(G) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,^(H) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.^(I)
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,^(J)
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.^(K)
He who has compassion^(L) on them will guide^(M) them
    and lead them beside springs^(N) of water.
¹¹ I will turn all my mountains into roads,
    and my highways^(O) will be raised up.^(P)
12 See, they will come from afar^(Q)—
    some from the north, some from the west,^(R)
    some from the region of Aswan.^[a]”

¹³ Shout for joy,^(S) you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;^(T)
    burst into song, you mountains!^(U)
For the Lord comforts^(V) his people
    and will have compassion^(W) on his afflicted ones.^(X)

¹⁴ But Zion^(Y) said, “The Lord has forsaken^(Z) me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(AA) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(AB)
16 See, I have engraved^(AC) you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls^(AD) are ever before me.
¹⁷ Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste^(AE) depart from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around;
    all your children gather^(AF) and come to you.
As surely as I live,^(AG)” declares the Lord,
    “you will wear^(AH) them all as ornaments;
    you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹ “Though you were ruined and made desolate^(AI)
    and your land laid waste,^(AJ)
now you will be too small for your people,^(AK)
    and those who devoured^(AL) you will be far away.
²⁰ The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.’^(AM)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
    ‘Who bore me these?^(AN)
I was bereaved^(AO) and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.^(AP)
    Who brought these^(AQ) up?
I was left^(AR) all alone,^(AS)
    but these—where have they come from?’”

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins^(A)
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.