Isaiah 56–66

Chapter 56

Rewards for Obedience to God

¹Thus says the Lord,

“^aPreserve justice and do righteousness,

For My ^bsalvation is about to come

And My righteousness to be revealed.

²“How ^ablessed is the man who does this,

And the son of man who ^btakes hold of it;

Who ^ckeeps from profaning the sabbath,

And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Let not the ^aforeigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

“The Lord will surely separate me from His people.”

Nor let the ^beunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the Lord,

“To the eunuchs who ^akeep My sabbaths,

And choose what pleases Me,

And ^bhold fast My covenant,

⁵To them I will give in My ^ahouse and within My ^bwalls a memorial,

And a name better than that of sons and daughters;

I will give ¹them an everlasting ^cname which ^dwill not be cut off.

⁶“Also the ^aforeigners who join themselves to the Lord,

To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,

To be His servants, every one who ^bkeeps from profaning the sabbath

And holds fast My covenant;

⁷Even ^athose I will bring to My ^bholy mountain

And ^cmake them joyful in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on ^dMy altar;

For ^eMy house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

⁸The Lord ¹God, who ^agathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,

“Yet ^bothers I will gather to ²them, to those already gathered.”

⁹All you ^abeasts of the field,

All you beasts in the forest,

Come to eat.

¹⁰His ^awatchmen are ^bblind,

All of them know nothing.

All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,

¹Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;

¹¹And the dogs are ^1agreedy, they ²are not satisfied.

And they are shepherds who have ^bno understanding;

They have all ^cturned to their own way,

Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.

¹²“Come,” they say, “let ¹us get ^awine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;

And ^btomorrow will be like today, only more so.”

Chapter 57

Evil Leaders Rebuked

¹The righteous man perishes, and no man ^atakes it to heart;

And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.

For the righteous man is taken away from ^bevil,

²He enters into peace;

They rest in their ¹beds,

Each one who ^awalked in his upright way.

³“But come here, you sons of a ^asorceress,

^bOffspring of an adulterer and ¹a ^cprostitute.

⁴“Against whom do you jest?

Against whom do you open wide your mouth

And stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of ^arebellion,

Offspring of deceit,

⁵Who inflame yourselves among the ^1aoaks,

^bUnder every luxuriant tree,

Who ^cslaughter the children in the ²ravines,

Under the clefts of the crags?

⁶“Among the ^1asmooth stones of the ²ravine

Is your portion, ³they are your lot;

Even to them you have ^bpoured out a drink offering,

You have made a grain offering.

Shall I ^4crelent concerning these things?

⁷“Upon a ^ahigh and lofty mountain

You have ^bmade your bed.

You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

⁸“Behind the door and the doorpost

You have set up your sign;

Indeed, far removed from Me, you have ^auncovered yourself,

And have gone up and made your bed wide.

And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,

You have loved their ¹bed,

You have looked on their ²manhood.

⁹“You have journeyed to the king with oil

And increased your perfumes;

You have ^asent your envoys a great distance

And made them go down to ¹Sheol.

¹⁰“You were tired out by the length of your road,

Yet you did not say, ‘^aIt is hopeless.’

You found ¹renewed strength,

Therefore you did not ²faint.

¹¹“Of ^awhom were you worried and fearful

When you lied, and did ^bnot remember Me

¹Nor ^cgive Me a thought?

Was I not silent even for a long time

So you do not fear Me?

¹²“I will ^adeclare your righteousness and your ^bdeeds,

But they will not profit you.

¹³“When you cry out, ^alet your collection of idols deliver you.

But the wind will carry all of them up,

And a breath will take them away.

But he who ^btakes refuge in Me will ^cinherit the land

And will ^dpossess My holy mountain.”

¹⁴And it will be said,

“^aBuild up, build up, prepare the way,

Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

¹⁵For thus says the ^ahigh and exalted One

Who ^1blives forever, whose name is Holy,

“I ^cdwell on a high and holy place,

And also with the ^dcontrite and lowly of spirit

In order to ^erevive the spirit of the lowly

And to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶“For I will ^anot contend forever,

^bNor will I always be angry;

For the spirit would grow faint before Me,

And the ^cbreath of those whom I have made.

¹⁷“Because of the iniquity of his ^aunjust gain I was angry and struck him;

I hid My face and was angry,

And he went on ^bturning away, in the way of his heart.

¹⁸“I have seen his ways, but I will ^aheal him;

I will ^blead him and ^crestore comfort to him and to his mourners,

¹⁹Creating the ^1apraise of the lips.

^bPeace, peace to him who is ^cfar and to him who is near,”

Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”

²⁰But the ^awicked are like the tossing sea,

For it cannot be quiet,

And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

²¹“^aThere is no peace,” says ^bmy God, “for the wicked.”

Chapter 58

Observances of Fasts

¹“^aCry loudly, do not hold back;

Raise your voice like a trumpet,

And declare to My people their ^btransgression

And to the house of Jacob their sins.

²“Yet they ^aseek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,

As a nation that has done ^brighteousness

And ^chas not forsaken the ordinance of their God.

They ask Me for just decisions,

They delight ^din the nearness of God.

³‘Why have we ^afasted and You do not see?

Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ¹notice?’

Behold, on the ^bday of your fast you find your desire,

And drive hard all your workers.

⁴“Behold, you fast for contention and ^astrife and to strike with a wicked fist.

You do not fast like you do today to ^bmake your voice heard on high.

⁵“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it for bowing ¹one’s head like a reed

And for spreading out ^asackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an ^bacceptable day to the Lord?

⁶“Is this not the fast which I choose,

To ^aloosen the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the bands of the yoke,

And to ^blet the oppressed go free

And ^cbreak every yoke?

⁷“Is it not to ^adivide your bread ¹with the hungry

And ^bbring the homeless poor into the house;

When you see the ^cnaked, to cover him;

And not to ^dhide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸“Then your ^alight will break out like the dawn,

And your ^brecovery will speedily spring forth;

And your ^crighteousness will go before you;

The glory of the ^dLord will be your rear guard.

⁹“Then you will ^acall, and the Lord will answer;

You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you ^bremove the yoke from your midst,

The ^1cpointing of the finger and ^dspeaking wickedness,

¹⁰And if you ^1agive yourself to the hungry

And satisfy the ²desire of the afflicted,

Then your ^blight will rise in darkness

And your gloom will become like midday.

¹¹“And the ^aLord will continually guide you,

And ^bsatisfy your ¹desire in scorched places,

And ^cgive strength to your bones;

And you will be like a ^dwatered garden,

And like a ^espring of water whose waters do not ²fail.

¹²“Those from among you will ^arebuild the ancient ruins;

You will ^braise up the age-old foundations;

And you will be called the repairer of the ^cbreach,

The restorer of the ¹streets in which to dwell.

Keeping the Sabbath

¹³“If because of the sabbath, you ^aturn your foot

From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,

And call the sabbath a ^bdelight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,

And honor it, desisting from your ^cown ways,

From seeking your own pleasure

And ^dspeaking your own word,

¹⁴Then you will take ^adelight in the Lord,

And I will make you ride ^bon the heights of the earth;

And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

For the ^cmouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Chapter 59

Separation from God

¹Behold, ^athe Lord’s hand is not so short

That it cannot save;

^bNor is His ear so dull

That it cannot hear.

²But your ^ainiquities have made a separation between you and your God,

And your sins have hidden His ¹face from you so that He does ^bnot hear.

³For your ^ahands are defiled with blood

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken ^bfalsehood,

Your tongue mutters wickedness.

^4aNo one sues righteously and ^bno one pleads ¹honestly.

They ^ctrust in confusion and speak lies;

They ^dconceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs and ^aweave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.

⁶Their webs will not become clothing,

Nor will they ^acover themselves with their works;

Their ^bworks are works of iniquity,

And an ^cact of violence is in their ¹hands.

^7aTheir feet run to evil,

And they hasten to shed innocent blood;

^bTheir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,

Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸They do not know the ^away of peace,

And there is ^bno justice in their tracks;

They have made their paths crooked,

^cWhoever treads on ¹them does not know peace.

A Confession of Wickedness

⁹Therefore ^ajustice is far from us,

And righteousness does not overtake us;

We ^bhope for light, but behold, darkness,

For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We ^agrope along the wall like blind men,

We grope like those who have no eyes;

We ^bstumble at midday as in the twilight,

Among those who are vigorous we are ^clike dead men.

¹¹All of us growl like bears,

And ^amoan sadly like doves;

We hope for ^bjustice, but there is none,

For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our ^atransgressions are multiplied before You,

And our ^bsins ¹testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And ²we know our iniquities:

¹³Transgressing and ^adenying the Lord,

And turning away from our God,

Speaking ^boppression and revolt,

Conceiving in and ^cuttering from the heart lying words.

^14aJustice is turned back,

And ^brighteousness stands far away;

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Yes, truth is lacking;

And he who turns aside from evil ^amakes…