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!
2 Why 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]
3 Pay 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)
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 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 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 55
Living Bible
55 Say there! Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine and milk—it’s all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that doesn’t give you strength? Why pay for groceries that do you no good? Listen and I’ll tell you where to get good food that fattens up the soul!
3 Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you, to give you all the unfailing mercies and love that I had for King David.[a] 4 He proved my power by conquering foreign nations.[b] 5 You also will command the nations, and they will come running to obey, not because of your own power or virtue, but because I, the Lord your God, have glorified you.
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call upon him now while he is near. 7 Let men cast off their wicked deeds; let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy upon them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon! 8 This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours.
10 As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, 11 so also is my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to and prosper everywhere I send it. 12 You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills, the trees of the field—all the world around you—will rejoice. 13 Where once were thorns, fir trees will grow; where briars grew, the myrtle trees will sprout up. This miracle will make the Lord’s name very great and be an everlasting sign of God’s power and love.[c]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 55:3 everlasting covenant . . . I had for King David. See 2 Samuel 7 for the terms of God’s covenant with David here remembered.
- Isaiah 55:4 foreign nations, implied.
- Isaiah 55:13 of God’s power and love, implied.
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The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.