Isaiah 55
EasyEnglish Bible
Come to the Lord!
55 ‘Listen! All of you who are thirsty,
come here for water to drink!
You may have no money,
but come here and buy food to eat!
Come and buy wine and milk!
You do not need to pay any money. It is free![a]
2 Do not spend money on anything that is not real food.
You work hard for your money,
so do not spend it on things which do not help you.
Listen carefully to me.
Eat something that will make you strong!
Enjoy the best food!
3 Come to me and listen carefully.
If you accept my teaching,
you will have real life!
Then I will make a covenant with you,
to be my people.
My promise will continue for ever,
like the promise that I made to King David.
4 So look! I chose David
to show my power to other people.
I made him a leader to rule the people of the nations.
5 Now you will call other nations to come to you.
They will be nations that you did not know before.
Nations that did not know you before
will now run quickly to you.
They will come to you,
because they see that you are great.
The Lord your God, Israel's Holy God,
will make people honour you.’
6 Come to serve the Lord now,
while he lets you find him.
Call out to him for help,
while he is near you.
7 Wicked people need to change the way that they live.
Evil people must stop thinking their evil thoughts.
They must turn back to the Lord our God,
because he will be kind to them.
Yes, God will completely forgive them,
if they turn back to him.
8 The Lord says,
‘Remember! My thoughts are not the same as your thoughts.
The way that you do things is not the same as the way that I do things.
9 The sky is far higher than the earth.
In the same way, I do things in a much better way than you do.
Also, my thoughts are much higher than your thoughts.
10 The rain and the snow come down from the sky,
and they do not immediately return there.
Instead, they give water to the earth,
so that crops will grow there.
Then the farmer has seeds to plant,
and people have food to eat.
11 It is the same when I give my word to people.
It will not return to me without any result.
No! My word does what I want it to do.
What I promise to do will certainly happen.’
12 You will leave that foreign land with joy!
You will travel home with peace in your minds.
The mountains and the hills will sing with joy
as you travel past.
The trees in the fields will clap their hands together!
13 Where thorn bushes have been growing,
pine trees will grow instead.
Myrtle bushes will grow where there are weeds now.
Those things will show everyone that the Lord is great.
It will be a sign to people for ever.
Footnotes
- 55:1 God is speaking to his people who are far away from him. They are slaves in exile, so they have no money to buy things with. God will give his blessings to them. He offers them all that they need for life. They do not have to pay anything as they would usually have to do.
Isaiah 55
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Come to the Lord
55 ‘Come, everyone who is thirsty,(A)
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!
2 Why do you spend silver 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]
3 Pay attention and come to me;
listen, so that you will live.
I will make a permanent covenant with you(B)
on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David.[b](C)
4 Since I have made him a witness to the peoples,(D)
a leader and commander for the peoples,(E)
5 so 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)
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call to him while he is near.(J)
7 Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;(K)
let him return to the Lord,
so that 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.
10 For 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)
11 so 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)
12 You 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)
13 Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up,
and instead of the briar, a myrtle will come up;(Q)
this will stand as a monument for the Lord,(R)
an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.
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