Isaiah 56

Contemporary English Version

All Nations Will Be Part of God's People

56 The Lord said:
Be honest and fair!
Soon I will come to save you;
my saving power will be seen
everywhere on earth.

²I will bless everyone
who respects the Sabbath
and refuses to do wrong.

³Foreigners who worship me
    must not say,
“The Lord won't let us
    be part of his people.”
Men who are unable
    to become fathers
must no longer say,
    “We are dried-up trees.”

⁴^(A) To them, I, the Lord, say:
    Respect the Sabbath,
    obey me completely,
    and keep our agreement.
⁵Then you will be like monuments
in my temple with your names
    written on them.
This will be much better
    than having children,
because these monuments
    will stand there forever.

⁶Foreigners will follow me.
They will love me and worship
    in my name;
they will respect the Sabbath
    and keep our agreement.
⁷^(B) I will bring them
    to my holy mountain,
where they will celebrate
    in my house of worship.
Their sacrifices and offerings
will always be welcome
    on my altar.
Then my house will be known
as a house of worship
    for all nations.
⁸I, the Lord, promise
to bring together my people
    who were taken away,
and let them join the others.

God Promises To Punish Israel's Leaders

⁹Come from the forest,
    you wild animals!
Attack and gobble up
    your victims.
¹⁰You leaders of Israel
should be watchdogs,
    protecting my people.
But you can't see a thing,
    and you never warn them.
Dozing and daydreaming
    are all you ever do.
¹¹You stupid leaders are a pack
of hungry and greedy dogs
    that never get enough.
You are shepherds
who mistreat your own sheep
    for selfish gain.
¹²You say to each other,
“Let's drink till we're drunk!
    Tomorrow we'll do it again.
We'll really enjoy ourselves.”