"Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a capti…" — Isaiah 49:21

Isaiah 49:21 · KJV

“Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where {had} they {been}?”

— Isaiah 49:21

Verse 20

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place {is} too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

Verse 22

Thus saith the Lord GOD, 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 thy daughters shall be carried upon {their} shoulders. {arms: Heb. bosom}

Isaiah 49 — Context

For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place {is} too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where {had} they {been}?

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy 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. {nursing fathers: Heb. nourishers} {queens: Heb. princesses}

Cross References

Galatians 4:26-29

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Galatians 3:29

And if ye {be} Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Isaiah 54:3-8

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Romans 11:11-17

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but {rather} through their fall salvation {is come} unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

Isaiah 3:26

And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she {being} desolate shall sit upon the ground. {desolate: or, emptied: Heb. cleansed}

Romans 11:24

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural {branches}, be graffed into their own olive tree?

Isaiah 1:8

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Lamentations 1:1-3

How doth the city sit solitary, {that was} full of people! {how} is she become as a widow! she {that was} great among the nations, {and} princess among the provinces, {how} is she become tributary!