Isaiah 55:1–57:19

Ho, aevery one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,

And he that hath no money;

bCome ye, cbuy, and eat;

Yea, come, buy bwine and milk dwithout money and without price.

2  eWherefore do ye †spend money for that which is not bread?

And your labour ffor that which satisfieth not?

Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,

And let your soul gdelight itself in fatness.

3  Incline your ear, and hcome unto me:

Hear, and iyour soul shall live;

And kI will make an everlasting covenant with you,

Even lthe sure mercies of mDavid.

4  Behold, I have given mhim for na witness to the people,

A oleader and commander to the people.

5  Behold, pthou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not,

And qnations that knew not thee shall run unto thee

Because of the Lord thy God,

And for rthe Holy One of Israel; rfor she hath glorified thee.

6  tSeek ye the Lord while he may be found,

Call ye upon him while he is near:

7  Let the wicked forsake his way,

And †the unrighteous man uhis thoughts:

And vlet him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;

And to our God, for †he will abundantly wpardon.

8  For xmy thoughts are not your thoughts,

Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9  For yas the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are my ways higher than your ways,

And my thoughts than your thoughts.

10  For zas the rain cometh down,

And the snow from heaven,

And returneth not thither,

But watereth the earth,

And maketh it bring forth and bud,

aThat it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11  bSo shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:

It shall not return unto me void,

But it shall accomplish that which I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

12  cFor ye shall go out with joy,

And be led forth with peace:

The mountains and the hills shall dbreak forth before you into singing,

And all ethe trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13  fInstead of gthe thorn shall come up the fir tree,

And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree:

And it shall be to the Lord hfor a name,

For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

56 Thus saith the Lord,

aKeep ye ||judgment, and do justice:

For bmy salvation is near to come,

And my righteousness to be revealed.

2  Blessed is cthe man that doeth this,

And cthe son of man that layeth hold on it;

dThat keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,

And keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

3  Neither let ethe son of the stranger, fthat hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying,

The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people:

Neither let gthe eunuch say, Behold, I am ha dry tree.

4  For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs dthat keep my sabbaths,

And choose the things that please me,

And take hold of my covenant;

5  Even unto them will I give in imine house and within my walls

kA place and la name better than of sons and of daughters:

I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

6  Also ethe sons of the stranger, fthat join themselves to the Lord,

To serve him, and to love the name of the Lord,

To be his servants,

Every one dthat keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,

And taketh hold of my covenant;

7  mEven them will I bring to my holy mountain,

And make them joyful in my house of prayer:

nTheir burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be oaccepted upon mine altar;

For pmine house shall be called an house of prayer qfor all people.

8  The Lord God which gathereth rthe outcasts of Israel saith,

Yet swill I gather others to him, †beside those that are gathered unto him.

9  tAll ye beasts of the field, come to devour,

Yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

10  His uwatchmen are vblind: they are all ignorant,

They are all dumb wdogs, they cannot bark;

||Sleeping, lying down, loving xto slumber.

11  Yea, they are †greedy dogs which †zcan never have enough,

And they are zashepherds that cannot understand:

They all look to their own way,

bEvery one for his gain, from his cquarter.

12  dCome ye, esay they, I will fetch wine,

And we will fill ourselves with strong drink;

And fto morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

57 *The righteous perisheth, and no man alayeth it to heart:

And †merciful men are ctaken away, none considering

dThat the righteous cis taken away ||from the evil to come.

2  He shall ||enter into peace:

They shall rest in their ebeds,

Each one walking ||in his fuprightness.

3  But draw near hither, ye sons of ffthe sorceress,

gkThe seed of the adulterer and the whore.

4  Against whom do ye hsport yourselves?

Against whom imake ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?

Are ye not children of transgression, ka seed of falsehood,

5  Enflaming yourselves ||with lidols llunder every green tree,

mSlaying the children in the valleys under nthe clifts of the rocks?

6  Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion;

They, they are thy lot:

Even to them hast thou poured a drink offering,

Thou hast offered a meat offering.

Should I receive comfort in these?

7  oUpon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set pthy bed:

Even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

8  qBehind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up rthy remembrance:

For sthou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up;

Thou hast enlarged pthy bed, and ||made thee a covenant with them;

tThou lovedst their bed ||uwhere thou sawest it.

9  And ||wthou wentest to the king with xointment,

And ydidst increase xthy perfumes,

And didst zsend thy messengers far off,

And didst debase thyself even unto hell.

10  aThou art wearied in the greatness of thy way;

Yet bsaidst thou not, There is no hope:

cThou hast found the ||life of thine hand;

Therefore thou wast not grieved.

11  And dof whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that ethou hast lied,

And dhast not remembered me, nor flaid it to thy heart?

gHave not I held my peace even of old,

And thou fearest me not?

12  I will declare thy righteousness,

And thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

13  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee;

But the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them:

But hhe that putteth his trust in me ishall possess the land,

And shall inherit kmy holy mountain;

14  And shall say, lCast ye up, cast ye up, lmprepare the way,

Take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

15  For thus saith the high and lofty One

That inhabiteth neternity, owhose name is Holy;

I dwell pin the high and qholy place,

rWith him also that is of a contrite and shumble spirit,

tTo revive the spirit of the humble,

And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

16  uFor I will not contend for ever,

Neither will I be always wroth:

For vthe spirit wshould fail before me,

And vthe souls xwhich I have made.

17  For the iniquity of yhis covetousness yywas I wroth, and smote him:

zI hid me, and was wroth,

And he went on †frowardly in the way of his heart.

18  I have seen his ways, and awill heal him:

I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to bhis mourners.

19  I create cthe fruit of the lips;

dePeace, peace fto him that is gfar off, and fto him that is near, saith the Lord;

And aI will heal him.