Isaiah 57
Complete Jewish Bible
57 The righteous person perishes,
and nobody gives it a thought.
Godly men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous person is taken away
from the evil yet to come.
2 Yes, those who live uprightly
will have peace as they rest on their couches.
3 “But you, you witches’ children, come here,
you spawn of adulterers and whores!
4 Whom are you making fun of?
At whom are you laughing and sticking out your tongue?
Aren’t you rebellious children,
just a brood of liars?
5 You go into heat among the oak trees,
under every spreading tree.
You kill the children in the valleys
under the cracks in the rocks.
6 Your place is among the smooth stones in the vadi;
these, these are what you deserve;
you pour out drink offerings to them,
you offer grain offerings to them.
Should I calmly ignore these things?
7 You set up your bed on a high, lofty mountain;
you also went up there to offer sacrifices.
8 Behind door and doorpost
you set up your [lewd] memorial;
then, far from me, you uncovered your bed,
climbed up on it and opened it wide,
made an agreement with some of them,
whose bed you loved when you saw their hand beckoning.
9 You went to the king with scented oil;
you added to your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far away,
even down to Sh’ol.
10 Though worn out by so much travel,
you did not say, ‘All hope is gone’;
rather, finding your strength renewed,
you did not grow weak.
11 Of whom have you been so afraid,
so fearful that you lied?
But me you don’t remember,
you don’t give me a thought!
I have held my peace so long
that you no longer fear me.
12 I will expose your [so-called] ‘righteousness’;
and what you have done won’t help you.
13 When you cry, will those [idols] you gathered rescue you?
The wind will carry them all away,
a puff of air will take them off.
But whoever takes refuge in me will possess
the land and inherit my holy mountain.”
14 Then he will say,
“Keep building! Keep building! Clear the way!
Remove everything blocking my people’s path!”
15 For thus says the High, Exalted One
who lives forever, whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy place
but also with the broken and humble,
in order to revive the spirit of the humble
and revive the hearts of the broken ones.
16 For I will not fight them forever
or always nurse my anger;
otherwise their spirits would faint before me,
the creatures I myself have made.
17 It was because of their flagrant greed
that I was angry and struck them;
I hid myself and was angry,
but they continued on their own rebellious way.
18 I have seen their ways, and I will heal them;
I will lead them and give comfort
to them and to those who mourn for them —
19 I will create the right words:
‘Shalom shalom to those far off
and to those nearby!’ says Adonai;
‘I will heal them!’”
20 But the wicked are like the restless sea —
unable to be still,
its waters toss up mud and dirt.
21 There is no shalom, says my God,
for the wicked.
Yeshayah 57
Orthodox Jewish Bible
57 The tzaddik perisheth, and no ish layeth it to lev; and anshei chesed are taken away, none considering that the tzaddik is taken away from the ra’ah (evil, calamity) to come.
2 He shall enter into shalom; they shall rest in their mishkevot (couches, i.e., tombs), each one walking in his nekhochah (uprightness, integrity, honesty).
3 But draw near to here, ye bnei onenah (you children of a sorceress), zera mena’ef (offspring of an adulterer) and she who plays the zonah.
4 At whom are you sneering? Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the leshon? Are ye not yeledim of peysha (rebellion), zera sheker?
5 Enflaming yourselves among [cult prostitution and Ba’al sympathetic magic in worshipping fertility] elim (oaks, big trees) under every spreading tree, slaughtering the yeladim in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the wadi is thy chelek; they are thy goral; even to them [the stone idols; see Jer. 3:9] hast thou poured nesekh, thou hast offered minchah. For these [provocations], should I relent?
7 Upon a lofty and high har hast thou set up thy mishkav (bed i.e., fertility rites); there wentest thou up to offer zevach.
8 Behind the delet also and the mezuzah (doorpost) hast thou set up thy zikron ([pornographic and idolatrous] memorial); deserting Me, thou hast uncovered thyself, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy mishkav (bed) and cut [a Brit] for thee with them [fertility cult idols]; thou lovedst their mishkav (bed) where thou hast looked on their yad [i.e., phallus].
9 And thou wentest to Melech [i.e., the pagan g-d Molech, the deity of sacrificed offspring and abortions]; with shemen thou didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy [political] envoys far, even down unto Sheol.
10 Thou art wearied in the length of thy derech; yet saidst thou not, It is hopeless; thou hast found the chayyat yad (life of hand, power) of thine; therefore thou wast not faint.
11 And of whom hast thou dreaded or feared, that thou hast lived a lie, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy lev (i.e., pondered it)? Have not I held My peace me’olam (even from of old), and thou fearest Me not?
12 I will preach thy tzedakah, and thy ma’asim, that they shall not profit thee.
13 When thou criest for help, let thy [idol] kibutzim (heaps, collections) save thee; but the ruach shall carry them all away; hevel shall take them; but he that putteth his trust in Me shall inherit eretz, and shall inherit My Har Kodesh;
14 And shall say, Build ye [a road], build ye [a road], prepare the Derech, remove the michshol (stumblingblock, obstacle) from the Derech Ami (the Way, Road of My People).
15 For thus saith the High and Exalted, Shokhen Ad (the One Who abideth forever, i.e., the Shekhinah) Kadosh Shmo; I dwell in marom v’kadosh (the high and holy place), with him also that is of a contrite and lowly ruach, to revive the ruach of the shefalim (humble, lowly ones) and to revive the lev nidka’im (contrite of heart).
16 For I will not contend l’olam (forever), neither will I lanetzach (always) be in wrath; for the ruach (spirit) would grow faint before Me, even the neshamot (souls) which I have made.
17 For the avon (iniquity) of his covetousness was I in wrath, and struck him [the wicked]; I hid, and was in wrath, and he [the wicked] went on shovav (backsliding) in the derech of his lev (heart).
18 I have seen the drakhim of him [the wicked], and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore nichumim (comforts) unto him and to his avelim (mourners).
19 I create the [repentant] fruit of the lips; Shalom, shalom to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith Hashem; and I will heal him.
20 But the resha’im are like the troubled yam (sea), when it cannot sheket (be quiet), whose mayim cast up mire and mud.
21 There is no shalom, saith Elohai, for the resha’im. [T.N. For deliverance ministry fasting is a key weapon, one that is needed in spiritual warfare in the last days as we see people getting demonized and needing deliverance.]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International