Isaiah 58–66

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.”

Separated from God

59Behold, the Lord’s hand is not ^ashortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

²But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will ^bnot hear.

³For ^cyour hands are defiled with ¹blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

⁴No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in ^dempty words and speak lies;

^eThey conceive ²evil and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

^6fTheir webs will not become garments,

Nor will they cover themselves with their works;

Their works are works of iniquity,

And the act of violence is in their hands.

^7gTheir feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed ^hinnocent blood;

ⁱTheir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

Wasting and ^jdestruction are in their paths.

⁸The way of ^kpeace they have not known,

And there is no justice in their ways;

^lThey have made themselves crooked paths;

Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Sin Confessed

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

Nor does righteousness overtake us;

^mWe look for light, but there is darkness!

For brightness, but we walk in blackness!

¹⁰ⁿWe grope for the wall like the blind,

And we grope as if we had no eyes;

We stumble at noonday as at twilight;

We are as dead men in desolate places.

¹¹We all growl like bears,

And ^omoan sadly like doves;

We look for justice, but there is none;

For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our ^ptransgressions are multiplied before You,

And our sins testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And as for our iniquities, we know them:

¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord,

And departing from our God,

Speaking oppression and revolt,

Conceiving and uttering ^qfrom the heart words of falsehood.

¹⁴Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands afar off;

For truth is fallen in the street,

And equity cannot enter.

¹⁵So truth fails,

And he who departs from evil makes himself a ^rprey.

The Redeemer of Zion

Then the Lord saw it, and ³it displeased Him

That there was no justice.

^16sHe saw that there was no man,

And ^twondered that there was no intercessor;

^uTherefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;

And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.

^17vFor He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

And a helmet of salvation on His head;

He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,

And was clad with zeal as a cloak.

^18wAccording to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,

Fury to His adversaries,

Recompense to His enemies;

The coastlands He will fully repay.

^19xSo shall they fear

The name of the Lord from the west,

And His glory from the rising of the sun;

When the enemy comes in ^ylike a flood,

The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

²⁰“The ^zRedeemer will come to Zion,

And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”

Says the Lord.

²¹“As ^afor Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

The Gentiles Bless Zion

60Arise, ^ashine;

For your light has come!

And ^bthe glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the Lord will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

³The ^cGentiles shall come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

⁴“Lift ^dup your eyes all around, and see:

They all gather together, ^ethey come to you;

Your sons shall come from afar,

And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.

⁵Then you shall see and become radiant,

And your heart shall swell with joy;

Because ^fthe abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.

⁶The multitude of camels shall cover your land,

The dromedaries of Midian and ^gEphah;

All those from ^hSheba shall come;

They shall bring ⁱgold and incense,

And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.

⁷All the flocks of ^jKedar shall be gathered together to you,

The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;

They shall ascend with ^kacceptance on My altar,

And ^lI will glorify the house of My glory.

⁸“Who are these who fly like a cloud,

And like doves to their roosts?

^9mSurely the coastlands shall wait for Me;

And the ships of Tarshish will come first,

ⁿTo bring your sons from afar,

^oTheir silver and their gold with them,

To the name of the Lord your God,

And to the Holy One of Israel,

^pBecause He has glorified you.

¹⁰“The ^qsons of foreigners shall build up your walls,

^rAnd their kings shall minister to you;

For ^sin My wrath I struck you,

^tBut in My favor I have had mercy on you.

¹¹Therefore your gates ^ushall be open continually;

They shall not be shut day or night,

That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles,

And their kings in procession.

^12vFor the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish,

And those nations shall be utterly ruined.

¹³“The ^wglory of Lebanon shall come to you,

The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together,

To beautify the place of My sanctuary;

And I will make ^xthe place of My feet glorious.

¹⁴Also the sons of those who afflicted you

Shall come ^ybowing to you,

And all those who despised you shall ^zfall prostrate at the soles of your feet;

And they shall call you The City of the Lord,

^aZion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,

So that no one went through you,

I will make you an eternal excellence,

A joy of many generations.

¹⁶You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles,

^bAnd milk the breast of kings;

You shall know that ^cI, the Lord, am your Savior

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

Instead of iron I will bring silver,

Instead of wood, bronze,

And instead of stones, iron.

I will also make your officers peace,

And your magistrates righteousness.

¹⁸Violence shall no longer be heard in your land,

Neither ¹wasting nor destruction within your borders;

But you shall call ^dyour walls Salvation,

And your gates Praise.

God the Glory of His People

¹⁹“The ^esun shall no longer be your light by day,

Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;

But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light,

And ^fyour God your glory.

^20gYour sun shall no longer go down,

Nor shall your moon withdraw itself;

For the Lord will be your everlasting light,

And the days of your mourning shall be ended.

^21hAlso your people shall all be righteous;

ⁱThey shall inherit the land forever,

^jThe branch of My planting,

^kThe work of My hands,

That I may be glorified.

^22lA little one shall become a thousand,

And a small one a strong nation.

I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

The Good News of Salvation

61“The ^aSpirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord ^bhas anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me ^cto ¹heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim ^dliberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

^2eTo proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

And ^fthe day of vengeance of our God;

^gTo comfort all who mourn,

³To ²console those who mourn in Zion,

^hTo give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of…