Isaiah 56

All Nations Will Obey the Lord

56This is what the Lord says:

“Give justice to all people,

and do what is right,

because my salvation will come to you soon.

Soon everyone will know that I do what is right.

²The person who obeys the law about the Sabbath

will be blessed,

and the person who does no evil

will be blessed.”

³Foreigners who have joined the Lord should not say,

“The Lord will not accept me with his people.”

The eunuch should not say,

“Because I cannot have children, the Lord will not accept me.”

⁴This is what the Lord says:

“The eunuchs should obey the law about the Sabbath

and do what I want

and keep my agreement.

⁵If they do, I will make their names remembered

within my Temple and its walls.

It will be better for them than children.

I will give them a name that will last forever,

that will never be forgotten.

⁶Foreigners will join the Lord

to worship him and love him,

to serve him,

to obey the law about the Sabbath,

and to keep my agreement.

⁷I will bring these people to my holy mountain

and give them joy in my house of prayer.

The offerings and sacrifices

they place on my altar will please me,

because my Temple will be called

a house for prayer for people from all nations.”

⁸The Lord God says—

he who gathers the Israelites that were forced to leave their country:

“I will bring together other people

to join those who are already gathered.”

Israel’s Leaders Are Evil

⁹All you animals of the field,

all you animals of the forest, come to eat.

¹⁰The leaders who are to guard the people are blind;

they don’t know what they are doing.

All of them are like quiet dogs

that don’t know how to bark.

They lie down and dream

and love to sleep.

¹¹They are like hungry dogs

that are never satisfied.

They are like shepherds

who don’t know what they are doing.

They all have gone their own way;

all they want to do is satisfy themselves.

¹²They say, “Come, let’s drink some wine;

let’s drink all the beer we want.

And tomorrow we will do this again,

or, maybe we will have an even better time.”