Isaiah 58–66

Chapter 58

¹“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet;

declare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek me daily,

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

³‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and thou takest no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,

and oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

⁵Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a rush,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the thongs 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 him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness 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, and he will say,

Here I am.

“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,

the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

¹¹And the Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your desire with good things,

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters fail not.

¹²And your 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 dwell in.

¹³“If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,

from doing your pleasure on my holy day,

and call the sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

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 Jacob your father,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Chapter 59

¹Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

²but your iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have hid his face from you

so that he does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies,

your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one enters suit justly,

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas,

they speak lies,

they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs, they weave the spider’s web;

he who eats their eggs dies,

and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs will not serve as clothing;

men will not cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil,

and they make haste to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸The way of peace they know not,

and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked,

no one who goes in them knows peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

we look for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

¹¹We all growl like bears,

we moan and moan like doves;

we look for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before thee,

and our sins testify against us;

for our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgressing, and denying the Lord,

and turning away from following our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

¹⁴Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands afar off;

for truth has fallen in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intervene;

then his own arm brought him victory,

and his righteousness upheld him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation upon his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;

to the coastlands he will render requital.

¹⁹So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

for he will come like a rushing stream,

which the wind of the Lord drives.

²⁰“And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord.

²¹“And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children’s children, says the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore.”

Chapter 60

¹Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

²For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will be seen upon you.

³And nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your rising.

⁴Lift up your eyes round about, and see;

they all gather together, they come to you;

your sons shall come from far,

and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.

⁵Then you shall see and be radiant,

your heart shall thrill and rejoice;

because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Midian and Ephah;

all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you,

the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;

they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,

and I will glorify my glorious house.

⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud,

and like doves to their windows?

⁹For the coastlands shall wait for me,

the ships of Tarshish first,

to bring your sons from far,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of the Lord your God,

and for the Holy One of Israel,

because he has glorified you.

¹⁰Foreigners shall build up your walls,

and their kings shall minister to you;

for in my wrath I smote you,

but in my favor I have had mercy on you.

¹¹Your gates shall be open continually;

day and night they shall not be shut;

that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,

with their kings led in procession.

¹²For the nation and kingdom

that will not serve you shall perish;

those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,

the cypress, the plane, and the pine,

to beautify the place of my sanctuary;

and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

¹⁴The sons of those who oppressed you

shall come bending low to you;

and all who despised you

shall bow down at your feet;

they shall call you the City of the Lord,

the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,

with no one passing through,

I will make you majestic for ever,

a joy from age to age.

¹⁶You shall suck the milk of nations,

you shall suck the breast of kings;

and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

and instead of iron I will bring silver;

instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron.

I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.

¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in your land,

devastation or destruction within your borders;

you shall call your walls Salvation,

and your gates Praise.

¹⁹The sun shall be no more

your light by day,

nor for brightness shall the moon

give light to you by night;

but the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your God will be your glory.

²⁰Your sun shall no more go down,

nor your moon withdraw itself;

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your days of mourning shall be ended.

²¹Your people shall all be righteous;

they shall possess the land for ever,

the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands,

that I might be glorified.

²²The least one shall become a clan,

and the smallest one a mighty nation;

I am the Lord;

in its time I will hasten it.

Chapter 61

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good tidings to the afflicted;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

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

²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord,

that he may be glorified.

⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins,

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