Isaiah 58-61

English Standard Version

True and False Fasting

58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    ^(A)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(B)declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
²^(C)Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
³^(D)‘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,^[a]
    ^(E)and oppress all your workers.
⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵^(F)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(G)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:
    ^(H)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps ^(I)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[b] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(J)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    ^(K)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸^(L)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    ^(M)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
^(N)your righteousness shall go before you;
    ^(O)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 ^(P)the yoke from your midst,
    ^(Q)the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰^(R)if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
^(S)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 in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be ^(T)like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
¹²^(U)And 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^(V)“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure^[c] 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 ^(W)your own pleasure,^[d] or talking idly;^[e]
¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    ^(X)and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;^[f]
^(Y)I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    ^(Z)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Evil and Oppression

59 Behold, ^(AA)the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
²^(AB)but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.
³^(AC)For your hands are defiled with blood
    and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
    your tongue mutters wickedness.
⁴^(AD)No one enters suit justly;
    no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
    ^(AE)they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
⁵They hatch adders' eggs;
    they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
    and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
⁶^(AF)Their 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.
⁷^(AG)Their feet run to evil,
    and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    desolation and destruction are in their highways.
⁸The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
    ^(AH)no one who treads on them knows peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not overtake us;
^(AI)we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰^(AJ)We grope for the wall like the blind;
    we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    ^(AK)among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
¹¹We all growl like bears;
    ^(AL)we moan and moan like doves;
^(AM)we hope for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
¹³transgressing, and denying the Lord,
    and turning back from following our God,
^(AN)speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

¹⁴^(AO)Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled 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^[g]
    that there was no justice.
¹⁶^(AP)He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷^(AQ)He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in ^(AR)zeal as a cloak.
¹⁸^(AS)According to their deeds, so will he repay,
    wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
    ^(AT)to the coastlands he will render repayment.
¹⁹^(AU)So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
^(AV)for he will come like a rushing stream,^[h]
    which the wind of the Lord drives.

²⁰^(AW)“And ^(AX)a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

²¹“And as for me, ^(AY)this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, ^(AZ)and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

The Future Glory of Israel

60 ^(BA)Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and ^(BB)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.
³^(BC)And nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your rising.

⁴^(BD)Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
    they all gather together, they come to you;
^(BE)your sons shall come from afar,
    and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
⁵Then you shall see and ^(BF)be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and exult,^[i]
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
    ^(BG)the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of ^(BH)Midian and ^(BI)Ephah;
    all those from ^(BJ)Sheba shall come.
^(BK)They shall bring gold and frankincense,
    and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
⁷All the flocks of ^(BL)Kedar shall be gathered to you;
    the rams of ^(BM)Nebaioth shall minister to you;
^(BN)they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
    ^(BO)and I will beautify my beautiful house.

⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud,
    and ^(BP)like doves to their windows?
⁹For ^(BQ)the coastlands shall hope for me,
    ^(BR)the ships of Tarshish first,
^(BS)to bring your children from afar,
    their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because ^(BT)he has made you beautiful.

¹⁰^(BU)Foreigners shall build up your walls,
    and ^(BV)their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I struck you,
    but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
¹¹^(BW)Your gates shall be open continually;
    day and night they shall not be shut,
^(BX)that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
    with their kings led in procession.
¹²^(BY)For the nation and kingdom
    that will not serve you shall perish;
    those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
¹³^(BZ)The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
    the cypress, the plane, and ^(CA)the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
    and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
¹⁴^(CB)The sons of those who afflicted you
    shall come bending low to you,
^(CC)and all who despised you
    shall bow down at your feet;
^(CD)they shall call you the City of the Lord,
    the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵^(CE)Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one passing through,
^(CF)I will make you majestic forever,
    a joy from age to age.
¹⁶^(CG)You shall suck the milk of nations;
    you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
and you shall know that ^(CH)I, the Lord, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, ^(CI)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
    ^(CJ)and your taskmasters righteousness.
¹⁸^(CK)Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
    devastation or destruction within your borders;
^(CL)you shall call your walls Salvation,
    and your gates Praise.

¹⁹^(CM)The sun shall be no more
    your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
    give you light;^[j]
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.^[k]
²⁰Your sun shall no more go down,
    nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and ^(CN)your days of mourning shall be ended.
²¹^(CO)Your people shall all be righteous;
    ^(CP)they shall possess the land forever,
^(CQ)the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
    that I might be glorified.^[l]
²²^(CR)The least one shall become a clan,
    and the smallest one a mighty nation;
^(CS)I am the Lord;
    in its time I will hasten it.

The Year of the Lord's Favor

61 ^(CT)The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has ^(CU)anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;^[m]
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and ^(CV)the opening of the prison to those who are bound;^[n]
²^(CW)to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    ^(CX)and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    ^(CY)to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
^(CZ)the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
^(DA)that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, ^(DB)that he may be glorified.^[o]
⁴^(DC)They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

⁵^(DD)Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
    foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
⁶^(DE)but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
    they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
^(DF)you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
    and in their glory you shall boast.
⁷^(DG)Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    they shall have everlasting joy.

⁸^(DH)For I the Lord love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrong;^[p]
^(DI)I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    ^(DJ)and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰^(DK)I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
^(DL)for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself ^(DM)like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    ^(DN)and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause ^(DO)righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.

Footnotes

Isaiah 58:3 Or pursue your own business
Isaiah 58:6 Or bruised
Isaiah 58:13 Or business
Isaiah 58:13 Or pursuing your own business
Isaiah 58:13 Hebrew or speaking a word
Isaiah 58:14 Or of the land
Isaiah 59:15 Hebrew and it was evil in his eyes
Isaiah 59:19 Hebrew a narrow river
Isaiah 60:5 Hebrew your heart shall tremble and grow wide
Isaiah 60:19 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Targum add by night
Isaiah 60:19 Or your beauty
Isaiah 60:21 Or that I might display my beauty
Isaiah 61:1 Or afflicted
Isaiah 61:1 Or the opening [of the eyes] to those who are blind; Septuagint and recovery of sight to the blind
Isaiah 61:3 Or that he may display his beauty
Isaiah 61:8 Or robbery with a burnt offering