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Isaiah 49:20-22
Contemporary English Version
Isaiah 49:20-22
Contemporary English Version
20 Jerusalem is a woman
whose children were born
while she was in deep sorrow[a]
over the loss of her husband.
Now those children
will come and seek room
in the crowded city,
21 and Jerusalem will ask,
“Am I really their mother?
How could I have given birth
when I was still mourning
in a foreign land?
Who raised these children?
Where have they come from?”
22 (A) The Lord God says:
“I will soon give a signal
for the nations
to return your sons
and your daughters
to the arms of Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- 49.20 whose children … sorrow: These “children” are Jews who were born in foreign countries during the time that Jerusalem was in ruins. Jerusalem probably stands for all the cities in Judah that were destroyed by the Babylonians.
Isaiah 49:20-22
New International Version
Isaiah 49:20-22
New International Version
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.’(A)
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these?(B)
I was bereaved(C) and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.(D)
Who brought these(E) up?
I was left(F) all alone,(G)
but these—where have they come from?’”
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord(H) says:
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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