Isaiah 56–58

The Covenant Extended to All Who Obey

⁵⁶Thus says the Lord:

Maintain justice, and do what is right,

for soon my salvation will come

and my deliverance be revealed.^*

²Happy is the mortal who does this,

the one who holds it fast,

who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,

and refrains from doing any evil.^*

³Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,

“The Lord will surely separate me from his people,”

and do not let the eunuch say,

“I am just a dry tree.”^*

⁴For thus says the Lord:

To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,^*

⁵I will give, in my house and within my walls,

a monument and a name

better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

that shall not be cut off.^*

⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,

and to be his servants,

all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it

and hold fast my covenant—^*

⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar,

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

for all peoples.^*

⁸Thus says the Lord God,

who gathers the outcasts of Israel:

I will gather others to them

besides those already gathered.^r*

The Corruption of Israel’s Rulers

⁹All you wild animals,

all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!^*

¹⁰Israel’s^s sentinels are blind;

they are all without knowledge;

they are all silent dogs

that cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down,

loving to slumber.^*

¹¹The dogs have a mighty appetite;

they never have enough.

The shepherds also have no understanding;

they have all turned to their own way,

to their own gain, one and all.

¹²“Come,” they say, “let us^t get wine;

let us fill ourselves with strong drink.

And tomorrow will be like today,

great beyond measure.”

Israel’s Futile Idolatry

⁵⁷The righteous perish,

and no one considers why;

the devout are taken away,

while no one understands

that it is due to evil that the righteous are taken away.^*

²Those who walk uprightly enter into peace

and rest on their couches.^*

³But as for you, come here,

you children of a sorceress,

you offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.^u*

⁴Whom are you mocking?

Against whom do you open your mouth wide

and stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,

the offspring of deceit—^*

⁵you who burn with lust among the oaks,

under every green tree;

you who slaughter your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?^*

⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;

it is they who are your lot;

to them you have poured out a drink offering;

you have brought a grain offering.

Should these acts cause me to relent?^*

⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain

you have set your bed,

and there you went up to offer sacrifice.^*

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost

you have set up your symbol,

for in deserting me^v you have uncovered your bed;

you have gone up to it;

you have made it wide;

and you have made a bargain for yourself with them;

you have loved their bed;

you have gazed on their nakedness.^w*

⁹You journeyed to Molech^x with oil

and multiplied your perfumes;

you sent your envoys far away

and sent them down to Sheol.^*

¹⁰You grew weary from your many wanderings,

but you did not say, “It is no use!”

You found your desire rekindled,

and so you did not weaken.^*

¹¹Whom did you dread and fear

so that you lied

and did not remember me

or give me a thought?

Have I not kept silent and closed my eyes,^y

and so you do not fear me?^*

¹²I will announce your verdict,

and the objects you made will not help you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!

The wind will carry them off;

a breath will take them away.

But whoever takes refuge in me shall possess the land

and inherit my holy mountain.^*

A Promise of Help and Healing

¹⁴It shall be said,

“Build up, build up, prepare the way;

remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”^*

¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty one

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

I dwell in the high and holy place

and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble

and to revive the heart of the contrite.^*

¹⁶For I will not continually accuse,

nor will I always be angry,

for then the spirits would grow faint before me,

even the souls that I have made.^*

¹⁷Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry;

I struck them; I hid and was angry,

but they kept turning back to their own ways.^*

¹⁸I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;

I will lead them and repay them with comfort,

¹⁹creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.^z

Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord,

and I will heal them.^*

²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea

that cannot keep still;

its waters toss up mire and mud.^*

²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.^*

False and True Worship

⁵⁸Shout out; do not hold back!

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

to the house of Jacob their sins.^*

²Yet day after day they seek me

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they want God on their side.^a*

³“Why do we fast, but you do not see?

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day

and oppress all your workers.^*

⁴You fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

will not make your voice heard on high.^*

⁵Is such the fast that I choose,

a day to humble oneself?

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush

and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?^*

⁶Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?^*

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?^*

⁸Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator^b shall go before you;

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

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

you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,^*

¹⁰if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.^*

¹¹The Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your needs in parched places

and make your bones strong,

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water

whose waters never fail.^*

¹²Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to live in.^*

¹³If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath,

from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

serving your own interests or pursuing your own affairs;^*

¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^*