Isaiah 55

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Come to the Lord

55 “Come, everyone who is thirsty,^(A)
come to the waters;
and you without money,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost!
²Why do you spend money on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.^[a]
³Pay attention and come to Me;
listen, so that you will live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,^(B)
the promises assured to David.^(C)
⁴Since I have made him a witness to the peoples,^(D)
a leader and commander for the peoples,^(E)
⁵so you will summon a nation you do not know,^(F)
and nations who do not know you will run to you.^(G)
For the Lord your God,
even the Holy One of Israel,^(H)
has glorified you.”^(I)

⁶Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call to Him while He is near.^(J)
⁷Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;^(K)
let him return to the Lord,
so He may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for He will freely forgive.^(L)

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not My ways.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
⁹“For as heaven is higher than earth,^(M)
so My ways are higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there
without saturating the earth
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat,^(N)
¹¹so My word that comes from My mouth
will not return to Me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please
and will prosper in what I send it to do.”^(O)

¹²You will indeed go out with joy
and be peacefully guided;
the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.^(P)
¹³Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will come up,
and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up;^(Q)
it will make a name for Yahweh^(R)
as an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.

Footnotes

Isaiah 55:2 Lit enjoy fatness

Isaiah 58

Holman Christian Standard Bible

True Fasting

58 “Cry out loudly,^[a] don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
²They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”^(A)
³“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?^(B)
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”^[b]
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.^(C)
⁴You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
⁵Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?^(D)
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
⁶Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,^(E)
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?^(F)
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,^(G)
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,^(H)
and not to ignore^[c] your own flesh and blood?^(I)
⁸Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.^(J)
Your righteousness will go before you,^(K)
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.^(L)
⁹At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;^(M)
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,^[d]
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,^(N)
¹⁰and if you offer yourself^[e] to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,^(O)
and your night will be like noonday.
¹¹The Lord will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden^(P)
and like a spring whose waters never run dry.^(Q)
¹²Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;^(R)
you will restore the foundations laid long ago;^[f]^(S)
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live.

¹³“If you keep from desecrating^[g] the Sabbath,^(T)
from doing whatever you want on My holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,^(U)
seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much;^[h]
¹⁴then you will delight yourself in the Lord,^(V)
and I will make you ride over the heights of the land,^(W)
and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(X)