Yesaya 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ¹ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ² 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

Yesaya 66:8

66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen this?

Can a country ³  be brought forth in one day?

Can a nation be born in a single moment?

Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!

[49:21]  ¹ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ² tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

[66:8]  ³ tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).