Isaiah 56–58

56Thus saith the Lord,

^aKeep ye ^||judgment, and do justice:

For ^bmy salvation is near to come,

And my righteousness to be revealed.

²Blessed 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.

³Neither 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.

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

And choose the things that please me,

And take hold of my covenant;

⁵Even 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.

⁶Also ^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;

^7mEven 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.

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

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

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

Yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

¹⁰His ^uwatchmen are ^vblind: they are all ignorant,

They are all dumb ^wdogs, they cannot bark;

^||Sleeping, lying down, loving ^xto slumber.

¹¹Yea, 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.

^12dCome 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.

²He shall ^||enter into peace:

They shall rest in their ^ebeds,

Each one walking ^||in his ^fuprightness.

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

^gkThe seed of the adulterer and the whore.

⁴Against 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,

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

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

⁶Among 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?

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

Even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

^8qBehind 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.

⁹And ^||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.

^10aThou 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.

¹¹And ^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?

¹²I will declare thy righteousness,

And thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

¹³When 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;

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

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

¹⁵For 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.

^16uFor 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.

¹⁷For 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.

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

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

¹⁹I 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.

²⁰But ^hthe wicked are like the troubled sea,

When it cannot rest,

Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹ⁱThere is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

58^aCry ^†aloud, ^bspare not,

Lift up thy voice ^clike a trumpet,

And ^dshew my people their transgression,

And the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek me daily,

And ^edelight to know my ways,

As a nation that did righteousness,

And forsook not the ordinance of their God:

They ask of me the ordinances of justice;

^fThey take delight in approaching to God.

^3gWherefore have we fasted, ^hsay they, and thou seest not?

Wherefore have we ⁱafflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?

Behold, ^kin the day of your fast ye find pleasure,

And ^lexact all your ^||†mlabours.

⁴Behold, ⁿye fast for strife and debate,

And to smite with the fist of wickedness:

^||Ye shall not fast as ye do this day,

^oTo make your voice to be heard on high.

^5pIs it such a fast that I have chosen?

^||A day for a man to ⁱafflict his soul?

Is it to bow down his head as ^qa bulrush,

And ^rto spread ^ssackcloth and ashes under him?

Wilt thou call this a fast,

And an acceptable day to the Lord?

⁶Is not this the fast that I have chosen?

To loose ^tthe bands of wickedness,

^uTo undo ^†the heavy burdens,

And ^xto let the ^†oppressed go free,

And that ye break every yoke?

⁷Is it not ^yzto deal thy bread to the hungry,

And ^ythat thou bring the poor that are ^||cast out ^ato thy house?

^zbWhen thou seest the naked, that thou cover him;

And that thou hide not thyself from ^cthine own flesh?

^8dThen shall thy light break forth as the morning,

And thine ^ehealth shall spring forth speedily:

And thy righteousness shall go before thee;

The glory of the Lord ^†shall be thy rereward.

⁹Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer;

Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.

If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke,

^fThe putting forth of the finger, and ^gspeaking vanity;

¹⁰And if thou ^hdraw out thy soul ⁱto the hungry,

And ^ksatisfy the afflicted soul;

^dThen shall thy light rise in obscurity,

And thy darkness be as the noonday:

¹¹And the Lord shall guide thee ^lcontinually,

And ^ksatisfy thy soul in ^†drought,

And make fat thy bones:

And thou shalt be ^mlike a watered garden,

And like a spring of water, whose waters ^†fail not.

¹²And they that shall be of thee ⁿshall build the old ^owaste places:

Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;

And thou shalt be called, ^pThe repairer of the breach,

The restorer of paths to dwell in.

¹³If ^qthou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,

From doing thy pleasure on my holy day;

And call the sabbath ^ra delight,

The holy of the Lord, honourable;

And shalt honour him, not doing ^rrthine own ways,

Nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

¹⁴Then ^sshalt thou delight thyself in the Lord;

And I will ^tcause thee to ride ^tuupon the high places of the earth,

And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:

^vFor the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.