Invitation to the Thirsty

55 “Come, all you who are thirsty,i

come to the waters;j

and you who have no money,

come, buyk and eat!

Come, buy wine and milkl

without money and without cost.m

2 Why spend money on what is not bread,

and your labor on what does not satisfy?n

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,o

and you will delight in the richestp of fare.

3 Give ear and come to me;

listen,q that you may live.r

I will make an everlasting covenants with you,

my faithful lovet promised to David.u

4 See, I have made him a witnessv to the peoples,

a ruler and commanderw of the peoples.

5 Surely you will summon nationsx you know not,

and nations you do not know will come running to you,y

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy Onez of Israel,

for he has endowed you with splendor.”a

6 Seekb the Lord while he may be found;c

calld on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsakee their ways

and the unrighteous their thoughts.f

Let them turng to the Lord, and he will have mercyh on them,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.i

8 “For my thoughtsj are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”k

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,l

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.m

10 As the rainn and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,o

so that it yields seedp for the sower and bread for the eater,q

11 so is my wordr that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,s

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purposet for which I sent it.

12 You will go out in joyu

and be led forth in peace;v

the mountains and hills

will burst into songw before you,

and all the treesx of the field

will clap their hands.y

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

and instead of briersz the myrtlea will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,b

for an everlasting sign,

that will endure forever.”