“Yet Sion dared to say:  The Lord hath forsaken me, and hath forgotten me.  Can a woman forget her child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? but if she forget, yet will not I forget thee, O Sion.  I will bear thee always between my hands, and thy walls are continually before me.  They that shall build thee are come, and thy destroyers shall go forth of thee.  Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee.  As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament.  Thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and the children thou shalt have after thy barrenness shall say again in thy ears:  The place is too strait for me:  give place to me that I may dwell.  Then shalt thou say in thy heart:  Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who brought up these?  Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?  And the Lord shall say to thee:  Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms and in their bosoms.  And kings shall be their nursing fathers, and queens their nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.  Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?  But even if the captives be taken away from the strong, nothing shall hinder me from saving thy children, and from destroying thy enemies; and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord, thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

“Thus saith the Lord:  What is the bill of this divorcement, wherewith I have put away the synagogue? and why have I delivered it into the hands of your enemies?  Is it not for your iniquities and for your transgressions that I have put it away?

“For I came, and no man received me; I called and there was none to hear.  Is my arm shortened, that I cannot redeem?

“Therefore I will show the tokens of mine anger; I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and make sackcloth their covering.

“The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.  He hath opened mine ear, and I have listened to Him as a master.

“The Lord hath revealed His will, and I was not rebellious.

“I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to outrage; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.  But the Lord hath helped me; therefore I have not been confounded.

“He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? who will be mine adversary, and accuse me of sin, God himself being my protector?

“All men shall pass away, and be consumed by time; let those that fear God hearken to the voice of His servant; let him that languisheth in darkness put his trust in the Lord.  But as for you, ye do but kindle the wrath of God upon you; ye walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.  This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.