Isaiah 58–66

How to Honor God

58The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back.

Shout out loud like a trumpet.

Tell my people what they have done against their God;

tell the family of Jacob about their sins.

²They still come every day looking for me

and want to learn my ways.

They act just like a nation that does what is right,

that obeys the commands of its God.

They ask me to judge them fairly.

They want God to be near them.

³They say, ‘To honor you we had special days when we fasted,

but you didn’t see.

We humbled ourselves to honor you,

but you didn’t notice.’ ”

But the Lord says, “You do what pleases yourselves on these special days,

and you are unfair to your workers.

⁴On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight

and hit each other with your fists.

You cannot do these things as you do now

and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.

⁵This kind of special day is not what I want.

This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.

I don’t want people just to bow their heads like a plant

and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.

This is what you do on your special days when you fast,

but do you think this is what the Lord wants?

⁶“I will tell you the kind of fast I want:

Free the people you have put in prison unfairly

and undo their chains.

Free those to whom you are unfair

and stop their hard labor.

⁷Share your food with the hungry

and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.

When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours,

and don’t refuse to help your own relatives.

⁸Then your light will shine like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your God will walk before you,

and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

⁹Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer.

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

“If you stop making trouble for others,

if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others,

¹⁰if you feed those who are hungry

and take care of the needs of those who are troubled,

then your light will shine in the darkness,

and you will be bright like sunshine at noon.

¹¹The Lord will always lead you.

He will satisfy your needs in dry lands

and give strength to your bones.

You will be like a garden that has much water,

like a spring that never runs dry.

¹²Your people will rebuild the old cities that are now in ruins;

you will rebuild their foundations.

You will be known for repairing the broken places

and for rebuilding the roads and houses.

¹³“You must obey God’s law about the Sabbath

and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day.

You should call the Sabbath a joyful day

and honor it as the Lord’s holy day.

You should honor it by not doing whatever you please

nor saying whatever you please on that day.

¹⁴Then you will find joy in the Lord,

and I will carry you to the high places above the earth.

I will let you eat the crops of the land your ancestor Jacob had.”

The Lord has said these things.

The Evil That People Do

59Surely the Lord’s power is enough to save you.

He can hear you when you ask him for help.

²It is your evil that has separated

you from your God.

Your sins cause him to turn away from you,

so he does not hear you.

³With your hands you have killed others,

and with your fingers you have done wrong.

With your lips you have lied,

and with your tongue you say evil things.

⁴People take each other to court unfairly,

and no one tells the truth in arguing his case.

They accuse each other falsely and tell lies.

They cause trouble and create more evil.

⁵They hatch evil like eggs from poisonous snakes.

If you eat one of those eggs, you will die,

and if you break one open, a poisonous snake comes out.

People tell lies as they would spin a spider’s web.

⁶The webs they make cannot be used for clothes;

you can’t cover yourself with those webs.

The things they do are evil,

and they use their hands to hurt others.

⁷They eagerly run to do evil,

and they are always ready to kill innocent people.

They think evil thoughts.

Everywhere they go they cause ruin and destruction.

⁸They don’t know how to live in peace,

and there is no fairness in their lives.

They are dishonest.

Anyone who lives as they live will never have peace.

Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble

⁹Fairness has gone far away;

goodness is nowhere to be found.

We wait for the light, but there is only darkness now.

We hope for a bright light, but all we have is darkness.

¹⁰We are like the blind feeling our way along a wall.

We feel our way as if we had no eyes.

In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night.

We are like dead men among the strong.

¹¹All of us growl like the bears.

We call out sadly like the doves.

We look for justice, but there isn’t any.

We want to be saved, but salvation is far away.

¹²We have done many wrong things against our God;

our sins show we are wrong.

We know we have turned against God;

we know the evil things we have done:

¹³sinning and rejecting the Lord,

turning away from our God,

planning to hurt others and to disobey God,

planning and speaking lies.

¹⁴So we have driven away justice,

and we have kept away from what is right.

Truth is not spoken in the streets;

what is honest is not allowed to enter the city.

¹⁵Truth cannot be found anywhere,

and people who refuse to do evil are attacked.

The Lord looked and could not find any justice,

and he was displeased.

¹⁶He could not find anyone to help the people,

and he was surprised that there was no one to help.

So he used his own power to save the people;

his own goodness gave him strength.

¹⁷He covered himself with goodness like armor.

He put the helmet of salvation on his head.

He put on his clothes for punishing

and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

¹⁸The Lord will pay back his enemies for what they have done.

He will show his anger to those who were against him;

he will punish the people in faraway places as they deserve.

¹⁹Then people from the west will fear the Lord,

and people from the east will fear his glory.

The Lord will come quickly like a fast-flowing river,

driven by the breath of the Lord.

²⁰“Then a Savior will come to Jerusalem

and to the people of Jacob who have turned from sin,”

says the Lord.

²¹The Lord says, “This is my agreement with these people: My Spirit and my words that I give you will never leave you or your children or your grandchildren, now and forever.”

Jerusalem Will Be Great

60“Jerusalem, get up and shine, because your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord shines on you.

²Darkness now covers the earth;

deep darkness covers her people.

But the Lord shines on you,

and people see his glory around you.

³Nations will come to your light;

kings will come to the brightness of your sunrise.

⁴“Look around you.

People are gathering and coming to you.

Your sons are coming from far away,

and your daughters are coming with them.

⁵When you see them, you will shine with happiness;

you will be excited and full of joy,

because the wealth of the nations across the seas will be given to you;

the riches of the nations will come to you.

⁶Herds of camels will cover your land,

young camels from Midian and Ephah.

People will come from Sheba

bringing gold and incense,

and they will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷All the sheep from Kedar will be given to you;

the sheep from Nebaioth will be brought to you.

They will be pleasing sacrifices on my altar,

and I will make my beautiful Temple more beautiful.

⁸“The people are returning to you like clouds,

like doves flying to their nests.

⁹People in faraway lands are waiting for me.

The great trading ships will come first,

bringing your children from faraway lands,

and with them silver and gold.

This will honor the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

who does wonderful things for you.

¹⁰“Jerusalem, foreigners will rebuild your walls,

and their kings will serve you.

When I was angry, I hurt you,

but now I want to be kind to you and comfort you.

¹¹Your gates will always be open;

they will not be closed day or night

so the nations can bring their wealth to you,

and their kings will be led to you.

¹²The nation or kingdom that doesn’t serve you will be destroyed;

it will be completely ruined.

¹³“The great trees of Lebanon will be given to you:

its pine, fir, and cypress trees together.

You will use them to make my Temple beautiful,

and I will give much honor to this place where I rest my feet.

¹⁴The people who have hurt you will bow down to you;

those who hated you will bow down at your feet.

They will call you The City of the Lord,

Jerusalem, city of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“You have been hated and left empty

with no one passing through.

But I will make you great from now on;

you will be a place of happiness forever and ever.

¹⁶You will be given what you need from the nations,

like a child drinking milk from its mother.

Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who saves you.

You will know that the Powerful One of Jacob protects you.

¹⁷I will bring you gold in place of bronze,

silver in place of iron,

bronze in place of wood,

iron in place of rocks.

I will change your punishment into peace,

and you will be ruled by what is right.

¹⁸There will be no more violence in your country;

it will not be ruined or destroyed.

You will name your walls Salvation

and your gates Praise.

¹⁹The sun will no longer be your light during the day

nor will the brightness from the moon be your light,

because the Lord will be your light forever,

and your God will be your glory.

²⁰Your sun will never set again,

and your moon will never be dark,

because the Lord will be your light forever,

and your time of sadness will end.

²¹All of your people will do what is right.

They will receive the earth forever.

They are the plant I have planted,

the work of my own hands

to show my greatness.

²²The smallest family will grow to a thousand.

The least important of you will become a powerful nation.

I am the Lord,

and when it is time, I will make these things happen quickly.”

The Lord’s Message of Freedom

61The Lord God has put his Spirit in me,

because the Lord has appointed me to tell the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort those whose hearts are broken,

to tell the captives they are free,

and to tell the prisoners they are…