Isaiah 56–58

Salvation for the Gentiles

56Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,

^aFor My salvation is about to come,

And My righteousness to be revealed.

²Blessed is the man who does this,

And the son of man who lays hold on it;

^bWho keeps from defiling the Sabbath,

And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Do not let ^cthe son of the foreigner

Who has joined himself to the Lord

Speak, saying,

“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;

Nor let the ^deunuch say,

“Here I am, a dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the Lord:

“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,

And choose what pleases Me,

And hold fast My covenant,

⁵Even to them I will give in ^eMy house

And within My walls a place ^fand a name

Better than that of sons and daughters;

I will give ¹them an everlasting name

That shall not be cut off.

⁶“Also the sons of the foreigner

Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,

And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—

Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,

And holds fast My covenant—

⁷Even them I will ^gbring to My holy mountain,

And make them joyful in My ^hhouse of prayer.

ⁱTheir burnt offerings and their sacrifices

Will be ^jaccepted on My altar;

For ^kMy house shall be called a house of prayer ^lfor all nations.”

⁸The Lord God, ^mwho gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,

ⁿ“Yet I will gather to him

Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders

^9oAll you beasts of the field, come to devour,

All you beasts in the forest.

¹⁰His watchmen are ^pblind,

They are all ignorant;

^qThey are all dumb dogs,

They cannot bark;

²Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹Yes, they are ^rgreedy ³dogs

Which ^snever ⁴have enough.

And they are shepherds

Who cannot understand;

They all look to their own way,

Every one for his own gain,

From his own territory.

¹²“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,

And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating ^tdrink;

^uTomorrow will be ^vas today,

And much more abundant.”

Israel’s Futile Idolatry

57The righteous perishes,

And no man takes it to heart;

^aMerciful men are taken away,

^bWhile no one considers

That the righteous is taken away from ¹evil.

²He shall enter into peace;

They shall rest in ^ctheir beds,

Each one walking in his uprightness.

³“But come here,

^dYou sons of the sorceress,

You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!

⁴Whom do you ridicule?

Against whom do you make a wide mouth

And stick out the tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,

Offspring of falsehood,

⁵Inflaming yourselves with gods ^eunder every green tree,

^fSlaying the children in the valleys,

Under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth ^gstones of the stream

Is your portion;

They, they, are your lot!

Even to them you have poured a drink offering,

You have offered a grain offering.

Should I receive comfort in ^hthese?

⁷“On ⁱa lofty and high mountain

You have set ^jyour bed;

Even there you went up

To offer sacrifice.

⁸Also behind the doors and their posts

You have set up your remembrance;

For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me,

And have gone up to them;

You have enlarged your bed

And ²made a covenant with them;

^kYou have loved their bed,

Where you saw their ³nudity.

^9lYou went to the king with ointment,

And increased your perfumes;

You sent your ^mmessengers far off,

And even descended to Sheol.

¹⁰You are wearied in the length of your way;

ⁿYet you did not say, ‘There is no hope.’

You have found the life of your hand;

Therefore you were not grieved.

¹¹“And ^oof whom have you been afraid, or feared,

That you have lied

And not remembered Me,

Nor taken it to your heart?

Is it not because ^pI have ⁴held My peace from of old

That you do not fear Me?

¹²I will declare your righteousness

And your works,

For they will not profit you.

¹³When you cry out,

Let your collection of idols deliver you.

But the wind will carry them all away,

A breath will take them.

But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land,

And shall inherit My holy mountain.”

Healing for the Backslider

¹⁴And one shall say,

^q“Heap it up! Heap it up!

Prepare the way,

Take the stumbling block out of the way of My people.”

¹⁵For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, ^rwhose name is Holy:

^s“I dwell in the high and holy place,

^tWith him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

^uTo revive the spirit of the humble,

And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

^16vFor I will not contend forever,

Nor will I always be angry;

For the spirit would fail before Me,

And the souls ^wwhich I have made.

¹⁷For the iniquity of ^xhis covetousness

I was angry and struck him;

^yI hid and was angry,

^zAnd he went on ⁵backsliding in the way of his heart.

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

I will also lead him,

And restore comforts to him

And to ^bhis mourners.

¹⁹“I create ^cthe fruit of the lips:

Peace, peace ^dto him who is far off and to him who is near,”

Says the Lord,

“And I will heal him.”

^20eBut the wicked are like the troubled sea,

When it cannot rest,

Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹“There ^fis no peace,”

Says my God, “for the wicked.”

Fasting that Pleases God

58“Cry aloud, ¹spare not;

Lift up your voice like a trumpet;

^aTell My people their transgression,

And the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek Me daily,

And delight to know My ways,

As a nation that did righteousness,

And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.

They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;

They take delight in approaching God.

³‘Why ^bhave we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?

Why have we ^cafflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,

And ²exploit all your laborers.

^4dIndeed you fast for strife and debate,

And to strike with the fist of wickedness.

You will not fast as you do this day,

To make your voice heard on high.

⁵Is ^eit a fast that I have chosen,

^fA day for a man to afflict his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,

And ^gto spread out sackcloth and ashes?

Would you call this a fast,

And an acceptable day to the Lord?

⁶“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To ^hloose the bonds of wickedness,

ⁱTo undo the ³heavy burdens,

^jTo let the oppressed go free,

And that you break every yoke?

⁷Is it not ^kto share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are ⁴cast out;

^lWhen you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from ^myour own flesh?

⁸ⁿThen your light shall break forth like the morning,

Your healing shall spring forth speedily,

And your righteousness shall go before you;

^oThe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

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

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,

The ⁵pointing of the finger, and ^pspeaking wickedness,

¹⁰If you extend your soul to the hungry

And satisfy the afflicted soul,

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,

And your ⁶darkness shall be as the noonday.

¹¹The Lord will guide you continually,

And satisfy your soul in drought,

And strengthen your bones;

You shall be like a watered garden,

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

¹²Those from among you

^qShall build the old waste places;

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,

The Restorer of ⁷Streets to Dwell In.

¹³“If ^ryou turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight,

The holy day of the Lord honorable,

And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words,

^14sThen you shall delight yourself in the Lord;

And I will cause you to ^tride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

^uThe mouth of the Lord has spoken.”