¹³  Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
          break forth, O mountains, into singing!
     For the LORD has comforted his people,
          and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

¹⁴  But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
          my Lord has forgotten me.”
¹⁵  Can a woman forget her nursing child,
          or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
     Even these may forget,
          yet I will not forget you.
¹⁶  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
          your walls are continually before me.
¹⁷  Your builders outdo your destroyers,
          and those who laid you waste go away from you.
¹⁸  Lift up your eyes all around and see;
          they all gather, they come to you.
     As I live, says the LORD,
          you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
          and like a bride you shall bind them on.

¹⁹  Surely your waste and your desolate places
          and your devastated land —
     surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,
          and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
²⁰  The children born in the time of your bereavement
          will yet say in your hearing:
     “The place is too crowded for me;
          make room for me to settle.”
²¹  Then you will say in your heart,
          “Who has borne me these?
     I was bereaved and barren,
          exiled and put away —
          so who has reared these?
     I was left all alone —
          where then have these come from?”

²²  Thus says the Lord GOD:
     I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,
          and raise my signal to the peoples;
     and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
          and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
²³  Kings shall be your foster fathers,
          and their queens your nursing mothers.
     With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
          and lick the dust of your feet.
     Then you will know that I am the LORD;
          those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

¹   Sing, O barren one who did not bear;
          burst into song and shout,
          you who have not been in labor!

     For the children of the desolate woman will be more
          than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.
²   Enlarge the site of your tent,
          and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
     do not hold back; lengthen your cords
          and strengthen your stakes.

³   For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
          and your descendants will possess the nations
          and will settle the desolate towns.

⁴   Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
          do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace;
     for you will forget the shame of your youth,
          and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵   For your Maker is your husband,
          the LORD of hosts is his name;
     the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
          the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶   For the LORD has called you
          like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
     like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off,
          says your God.
⁷   For a brief moment I abandoned you,
          but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸   In overflowing wrath for a moment
          I hid my face from you,
     but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
          says the LORD, your Redeemer.

⁹   This is like the days of Noah to me:
          Just as I swore that the waters of Noah
          would never again go over the earth,
     so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
          and will not rebuke you.
¹⁰  For the mountains may depart
          and the hills be removed,
     but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
          and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
          says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

¹¹  O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
          I am about to set your stones in antimony,
          and lay your foundations with sapphires.
¹²  I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
          your gates of jewels,
          and all your wall of precious stones.
¹³  All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
          and great shall be the prosperity of your children.

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²He called a child, whom he put among them, ³and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

⁶“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

¹⁰“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. ¹²What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”