Isaiah 55-58

English Standard Version

The Compassion of the Lord

55 ^(A)“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    ^(B)come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
²^(C)Why 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;
    ^(D)hear, that your soul may live;
^(E)and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    ^(F)my steadfast, sure love for ^(G)David.
⁴^(H)Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    ^(I)a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵^(J)Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
    and ^(K)a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    ^(L)for he has glorified you.

⁶^(M)“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.
⁹^(N)For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰^(O)“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    ^(P)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 ^(Q)it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²^(R)“For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
^(S)the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³^(T)Instead 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.”

Salvation for Foreigners

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

³Let not ^(W)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 ^(X)a dry tree.”
⁴For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs ^(Y)who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
⁵^(Z)I will give in my house and within my walls
    a ^(AA)monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
^(AB)I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.

⁶“And ^(AC)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 ^(AD)who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
⁷^(AE)these I will bring to ^(AF)my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
^(AG)their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for ^(AH)my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
⁸The Lord God,
    ^(AI)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
^(AJ)“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”

Israel's Irresponsible Leaders

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

Israel's Futile Idolatry

57 The righteous man perishes,
    and no one lays it to heart;
^(AS)devout men are taken away,
    while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
²    ^(AT)he enters into peace;
they rest ^(AU)in their beds
    who walk in their uprightness.
³But you, draw near,
    sons of the sorceress,
    ^(AV)offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
⁴Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom ^(AW)do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of ^(AX)transgression,
    ^(AY)the offspring of deceit,
⁵you who burn with lust among ^(AZ)the oaks,^[a]
    under every green tree,
^(BA)who slaughter your children in the valleys,
    under the clefts of the rocks?
⁶Among the smooth stones of ^(BB)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?
⁷^(BC)On 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 memorial;
for, deserting me, ^(BD)you have uncovered your bed,
    you have gone up to it,
    ^(BE)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.^[b]
⁹You journeyed to the king with oil
    and multiplied your perfumes;
^(BF)you sent your envoys far off,
    and sent down even to Sheol.
¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way,
    ^(BG)but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;
you found new life for your strength,
    and so you were not faint.^[c]

¹¹^(BH)Whom did you dread and fear,
    ^(BI)so that you lied,
and did not remember me,
    did not lay it to heart?
^(BJ)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.
¹³^(BK)When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
    The wind will carry them all off,
    a breath will take them away.
^(BL)But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land
    and shall inherit ^(BM)my holy mountain.

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴And it shall be said,
^(BN)“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people's way.”
¹⁵For thus says ^(BO)the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is ^(BP)Holy:
^(BQ)“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also ^(BR)with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
^(BS)to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶^(BT)For 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 ^(BU)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, ^(BV)but I will heal him;
    I will lead him ^(BW)and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
¹⁹    ^(BX)creating ^(BY)the fruit of the lips.
^(BZ)Peace, peace, ^(CA)to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
    ^(CB)“and I will heal him.
²⁰^(CC)But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
    for it cannot be quiet,
    and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
²¹^(CD)There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

True and False Fasting

58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    ^(CE)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(CF)declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
²^(CG)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^(CH)‘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,^[d]
    ^(CI)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^(CJ)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(CK)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:
    ^(CL)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps ^(CM)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[e] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(CN)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    ^(CO)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸^(CP)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    ^(CQ)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
^(CR)your righteousness shall go before you;
    ^(CS)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 ^(CT)the yoke from your midst,
    ^(CU)the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰^(CV)if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
^(CW)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 ^(CX)like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
¹²^(CY)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^(CZ)“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure^[f] 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 ^(DA)your own pleasure,^[g] or talking idly;^[h]
¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    ^(DB)and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;^[i]
^(DC)I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    ^(DD)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”