8. This is what the lord says:“At just the right time, I will respond to you.On the day of salvation I will help you.I will protect you and give you to the peopleas my covenant with them.Through you I will reestablish the land of Israeland assign it to its own people again.
9. I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’They will be my sheep, grazing in green pasturesand on hills that were previously bare.
10. They will neither hunger nor thirst.The searing sun will not reach them anymore.For the lord in his mercy will lead them;he will lead them beside cool waters.
11. And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.The highways will be raised above the valleys.
12. See, my people will return from far away,from lands to the north and west,and from as far south as Egypt.”
13. Sing for joy, O heavens!Rejoice, O earth!Burst into song, O mountains!For the lord has comforted his peopleand will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14. Yet Jerusalem says, “The lord has deserted us;the Lord has forgotten us.”
15. “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?But even if that were possible,I would not forget you!