55 The Compassion of the Lord

55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. ³Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. ⁴Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. ⁵Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,for he has glorified you.

⁶“Seek the Lord while he may be found;call upon him while he is near; ⁷let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰“For as the rain and the snow come down from heavenand do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²“For you shall go out in joyand be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before youshall break forth into singing,and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. ¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord,an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

56 Salvation for Foreigners

56:1 Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come,and my deliverance be revealed. ²Blessed is the man who does this,and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say,“Behold, I am a dry tree.” ⁴For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,who choose the things that please meand hold fast my covenant, ⁵I will give in my house and within my wallsa monument and a namebetter than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting namethat shall not be cut off.

⁶“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,and holds 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 sacrificeswill be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayerfor all peoples.” ⁸The Lord God,who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to himbesides those already gathered.”

Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders

⁹All you beasts of the field, come to devour—all you beasts in the forest. ¹⁰His watchmen are blind;they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs;they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down,loving to slumber. ¹¹The dogs have a mighty appetite;they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding;they have all turned to their own way,each to his own gain, one and all. ¹²“Come,” they say, “let me get wine;let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day,great beyond measure.”

57 Israel’s Futile Idolatry

57:1 The righteous man perishes,and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away,while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; ²he enters into peace; they rest in their bedswho walk in their uprightness. ³But you, draw near,sons of the sorceress,offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman. ⁴Whom are you mocking?Against whom do you open your mouth wideand stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression,the offspring of deceit, ⁵you who burn with lust among the oaks,[1]under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys,under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering,you have brought a grain offering.Shall I relent for these things? ⁷On a high and lofty mountainyou have set your bed,and there you went up to offer sacrifice. ⁸Behind the door and the doorpostyou have set up your memorial; for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,you have gone up to it,you have made it wide; and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,you have loved their bed,you have looked on nakedness.^[2]⁹You journeyed to the king with oiland multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off,and sent down even to Sheol. ¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way,but you did not say, “It is hopeless”; you found new life for your strength,and so you were not faint.^[3]

¹¹Whom did you dread and fear,so that you lied, and did not remember me,did not lay it to heart? Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,and you do not fear me? ¹²I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,but they will not profit 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 he who takes refuge in me shall possess the landand shall inherit my holy mountain.

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way,remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” ¹⁵For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place,and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly,and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶For I will not contend forever,nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me,and the breath of life that I made. ¹⁷Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. ¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, ¹⁹ creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,“and I will heal him. ²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea;for it cannot be quiet,and its waters toss up mire and dirt. ²¹There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

[1] Or among the terebinths [2] Or on a monument (see 56:5); Hebrew on a hand [3] Hebrew and so you were not sick

58 True and False Fasting

58:1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression,to the house of Jacob their sins. ²Yet they seek me dailyand delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousnessand did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments;they delight to draw near to God. ³‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,[4]and oppress all your workers. ⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fightand to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this daywill not make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵Is such the fast that I choose,a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed,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 straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed[5] go free,and to break every yoke? ⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungryand 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 the yoke from your midst,the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, ¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungryand satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darknessand your gloom be as the noonday. ¹¹And the Lord will guide you continuallyand satisfy your desire in scorched placesand make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden,like a spring of water,whose waters do not fail. 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[6] on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delightand the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways,or seeking your own pleasure,[7] or talking idly;^[8]¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;[9] I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

[4] Or pursue your own business [5] Or bruised [6] Or business [7] Or pursuing your own business [8] Hebrew or speaking a word [9] Or of the land