Isaiah 57

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.”