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Isaiah 56-58
The Message
Isaiah 56-58
The Message
Messages of Hope
Salvation Is Just Around the Corner
56 1-3 God’s Message:
“Guard my common good:
Do what’s right and do it in the right way,
For salvation is just around the corner,
my setting-things-right is about to go into action.
How fortunate are you who enter into these things,
you men and women who embrace them,
Who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
who watch your step and don’t do anything evil!
Make sure no outsider who now follows God
ever has occasion to say, ‘God put me in second-class.
I don’t really belong.’
And make sure no physically mutilated person
is ever made to think, ‘I’m damaged goods.
I don’t really belong.’”
4-5 For God says:
“To the mutilated who keep my Sabbaths
and choose what delights me
and keep a firm grip on my covenant,
I’ll provide them an honored place
in my family and within my city,
even more honored than that of sons and daughters.
I’ll confer permanent honors on them
that will never be revoked.
6-8 “And as for the outsiders who now follow me,
working for me, loving my name,
and wanting to be my servants—
All who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
holding fast to my covenant—
I’ll bring them to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
They’ll be welcome to worship the same as the ‘insiders,’
to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices to my altar.
Oh yes, my house of worship
will be known as a house of prayer for all people.”
The Decree of the Master, God himself,
who gathers in the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather others also,
gather them in with those already gathered.”
* * *
9-12 A call to the savage beasts: Come on the run.
Come, devour, beast barbarians!
For Israel’s watchmen are blind, the whole lot of them.
They have no idea what’s going on.
They’re dogs without sense enough to bark,
lazy dogs, dreaming in the sun—
But hungry dogs, they do know how to eat,
voracious dogs, with never enough.
And these are Israel’s shepherds!
They know nothing, understand nothing.
They all look after themselves,
grabbing whatever’s not nailed down.
“Come,” they say, “let’s have a party.
Let’s go out and get drunk!”
And tomorrow, more of the same:
“Let’s live it up!”
Never Tired of Trying New Religions
57 1-2 Meanwhile, right-living people die
and no one gives them a thought.
God-fearing people are carted off
and no one even notices.
The right-living people are out of their misery,
they’re finally at rest.
They lived well and with dignity
and now they’re finally at peace.
* * *
3-10 “But you, children of a witch, come here!
Sons of a slut, daughters of a whore.
What business do you have taunting,
sneering, and sticking out your tongue?
Do you have any idea what wretches you’ve turned out to be?
A race of rebels, a generation of liars.
You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade
and fornicate at whim.
You kill your children at any convenient spot—
any cave or crevasse will do.
You take stones from the creek
and set up your sex-and-religion shrines.
You’ve chosen your fate.
Your worship will be your doom.
You’ve climbed a high mountain
to practice your foul sex-and-death religion.
Behind closed doors
you assemble your precious gods and goddesses.
Deserting me, you’ve gone all out, stripped down
and made your bed your place of worship.
You’ve climbed into bed with the ‘sacred’ whores
and loved every minute of it,
adoring every curve of their naked bodies.
You anoint your king-god with ointments
and lavish perfumes on yourselves.
You send scouts to search out the latest in religion,
send them all the way to hell and back.
You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different,
and never see what a waste it all is.
You’ve always found strength for the latest fad,
never got tired of trying new religions.
11-13 “Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense,
leaving me high and dry,
forgetting you ever knew me?
Because I don’t yell and make a scene,
do you think I don’t exist?
I’ll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous’ attempts at religion,
and expose the absurdity of it all.
Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods:
A good wind will blow them away.
They’re smoke, nothing but smoke.
“But anyone who runs to me for help
will inherit the land,
will end up owning my holy mountain!”
* * *
14 Someone says: “Build, build! Make a road!
Clear the way, remove the rocks
from the road my people will travel.”
15-21 A Message from the high and towering God,
who lives in Eternity,
whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy places,
but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed,
And what I do is put new spirit in them,
get them up and on their feet again.
For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly,
I’m not going to be angry forever.
Otherwise, people would lose heart.
These souls I created would tire out and give up.
I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins.
I struck him hard and turned away in anger,
while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.
When I looked again and saw what he was doing,
I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him,
creating a new language of praise for the mourners.
Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God—
“and yes, I will heal them.
But the wicked are storm-battered seas
that can’t quiet down.
The waves stir up garbage and mud.
There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”
Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground
58 1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!
Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,
face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
3-5 “Well, here’s why:
“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
13-14 “If you watch your step on the Sabbath
and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God’s holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’
making money, running here and there—
Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!
Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”
Yes! God says so!
Isaiah 56-58
New International Version
Isaiah 56-58
New International Version
Salvation for Others
56 This is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice(A)
and do what is right,(B)
for my salvation(C) is close at hand
and my righteousness(D) will soon be revealed.
2 Blessed(E) is the one who does this—
the person who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath(F) without desecrating it,
and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”
3 Let no foreigner(G) who is bound to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.”(H)
And let no eunuch(I) complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
4 For this is what the Lord says:
“To the eunuchs(J) who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant(K)—
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls(L)
a memorial(M) and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name(N)
that will endure forever.(O)
6 And foreigners(P) who bind themselves to the Lord
to minister(Q) to him,
to love the name(R) of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath(S) without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain(T)
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices(U)
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.(V)”(W)
8 The Sovereign Lord declares—
he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather(X) still others to them
besides those already gathered.”
God’s Accusation Against the Wicked
9 Come, all you beasts of the field,(Y)
come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
10 Israel’s watchmen(Z) are blind,
they all lack knowledge;(AA)
they are all mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they lie around and dream,
they love to sleep.(AB)
11 They are dogs with mighty appetites;
they never have enough.
They are shepherds(AC) who lack understanding;(AD)
they all turn to their own way,(AE)
they seek their own gain.(AF)
12 “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine!(AG)
Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today,
or even far better.”(AH)
57 The righteous perish,(AI)
and no one takes it to heart;(AJ)
the devout are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.(AK)
2 Those who walk uprightly(AL)
enter into peace;
they find rest(AM) as they lie in death.
3 “But you—come here, you children of a sorceress,(AN)
you offspring of adulterers(AO) and prostitutes!(AP)
4 Who are you mocking?
At whom do you sneer
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,(AQ)
the offspring of liars?
5 You burn with lust among the oaks(AR)
and under every spreading tree;(AS)
you sacrifice your children(AT) in the ravines
and under the overhanging crags.
6 The idols(AU) among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
indeed, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings(AV)
and offered grain offerings.
In view of all this, should I relent?(AW)
7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;(AX)
there you went up to offer your sacrifices.(AY)
8 Behind your doors and your doorposts
you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,(AZ)
and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.(BA)
9 You went to Molek[a](BB) with olive oil
and increased your perfumes.(BC)
You sent your ambassadors[b](BD) far away;
you descended to the very realm of the dead!(BE)
10 You wearied(BF) yourself by such going about,
but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’(BG)
You found renewal of your strength,(BH)
and so you did not faint.
11 “Whom have you so dreaded and feared(BI)
that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered(BJ) me
nor taken this to heart?(BK)
Is it not because I have long been silent(BL)
that you do not fear me?
12 I will expose your righteousness and your works,(BM)
and they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry out(BN) for help,
let your collection of idols save(BO) you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow(BP) them away.
But whoever takes refuge(BQ) in me
will inherit the land(BR)
and possess my holy mountain.”(BS)
Comfort for the Contrite
14 And it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the road!(BT)
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”(BU)
15 For this is what the high and exalted(BV) One says—
he who lives forever,(BW) whose name is holy:
“I live in a high(BX) and holy place,
but also with the one who is contrite(BY) and lowly in spirit,(BZ)
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.(CA)
16 I will not accuse(CB) them forever,
nor will I always be angry,(CC)
for then they would faint away because of me—
the very people(CD) I have created.
17 I was enraged by their sinful greed;(CE)
I punished them, and hid(CF) my face in anger,
yet they kept on in their willful ways.(CG)
18 I have seen their ways, but I will heal(CH) them;
I will guide(CI) them and restore comfort(CJ) to Israel’s mourners,
19 creating praise on their lips.(CK)
Peace, peace,(CL) to those far and near,”(CM)
says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”
20 But the wicked(CN) are like the tossing sea,(CO)
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire(CP) and mud.
21 “There is no peace,”(CQ) says my God, “for the wicked.”(CR)
True Fasting
58 “Shout it aloud,(CS) do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.(CT)
Declare to my people their rebellion(CU)
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.(CV)
2 For day after day they seek(CW) me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken(CX) the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near(CY) them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’(CZ) they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled(DA) ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’(DB)
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please(DC)
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,(DD)
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard(DE) on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast(DF) I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble(DG) themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed(DH)
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?(DI)
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting(DJ) I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice(DK)
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed(DL) free
and break every yoke?(DM)
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry(DN)
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter(DO)—
when you see the naked, to clothe(DP) them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?(DQ)
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,(DR)
and your healing(DS) will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[c](DT) will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.(DU)
9 Then you will call,(DV) and the Lord will answer;(DW)
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger(DX) and malicious talk,(DY)
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,(DZ)
then your light(EA) will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.(EB)
11 The Lord will guide(EC) you always;
he will satisfy your needs(ED) in a sun-scorched land(EE)
and will strengthen(EF) your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,(EG)
like a spring(EH) whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins(EI)
and will raise up the age-old foundations;(EJ)
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,(EK)
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath(EL)
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight(EM)
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,(EN)
14 then you will find your joy(EO) in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights(EP) of the land
and to feast on the inheritance(EQ) of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(ER)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 57:9 Or to the king
- Isaiah 57:9 Or idols
- Isaiah 58:8 Or your righteous One
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.