Font Size
Isaiah 55
New International Version
Isaiah 55
New International Version
Invitation to the Thirsty
55 “Come, all you who are thirsty,(A)
come to the waters;(B)
and you who have no money,
come, buy(C) and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk(D)
without money and without cost.(E)
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?(F)
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,(G)
and you will delight in the richest(H) of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen,(I) that you may live.(J)
I will make an everlasting covenant(K) with you,
my faithful love(L) promised to David.(M)
4 See, I have made him a witness(N) to the peoples,
a ruler and commander(O) of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations(P) you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,(Q)
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One(R) of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”(S)
6 Seek(T) the Lord while he may be found;(U)
call(V) on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake(W) their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.(X)
Let them turn(Y) to the Lord, and he will have mercy(Z) on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.(AA)
8 “For my thoughts(AB) are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”(AC)
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,(AD)
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.(AE)
10 As the rain(AF) and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,(AG)
so that it yields seed(AH) for the sower and bread for the eater,(AI)
11 so is my word(AJ) that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,(AK)
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose(AL) for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy(AM)
and be led forth in peace;(AN)
the mountains and hills
will burst into song(AO) before you,
and all the trees(AP) of the field
will clap their hands.(AQ)
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers(AR) the myrtle(AS) will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,(AT)
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
Isaiah 55
1599 Geneva Bible
Isaiah 55
1599 Geneva Bible
55 1 An exhortation to come to Christ. 8 God’s counsels are not as man’s. 12 The joy of the faithful.
1 Ho, everyone that [a]thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and ye that have [b]no silver, come, buy and eat: come, I say, buy [c]wine and milk without silver and without money.
2 Wherefore do ye lay out silver, and not for bread? [d]and your labor without being satisfied? hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight in [e]fatness.
3 Incline your ears, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the [f]sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I gave [g]him for a witness to the people, for a prince and a master unto the people.
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, [h]and a nation that knew not thee, shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and the Holy one of Israel: for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be [i]found: call ye upon him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked [j]forsake his ways, and the unrighteous his own imaginations, and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he is very ready to forgive.
8 For my [k]thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 Surely as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread unto him that eateth,
11 So shall my [l]word be, that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I will, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 Therefore ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the [m]mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into joy, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 For thorns there shall grow fir trees; for nettles shall grow the myrrh tree, and it shall be to the Lord [n]for a name, and for an everlasting [o]sign that shall not be taken away.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 55:1 Christ by proposing his graces and gifts to his Church, exempteth the hypocrites which are full with their imagined works, and the Epicureans, which are full with their worldly lusts, and so thirst not after these waters.
- Isaiah 55:1 Signifying, that God’s benefits cannot be bought for money.
- Isaiah 55:1 By waters, wine, milk and bread, he meaneth all things necessary to the spiritual life, as these are necessary to this corporal life.
- Isaiah 55:2 He reproveth their ingratitude, which refuse those things that God offereth willingly, and in the meantime spare neither cost nor labor to obtain those which are nothing profitable.
- Isaiah 55:2 You shall be fed abundantly.
- Isaiah 55:3 The same covenant which through my mercy I ratified and confirmed to David, that it should be eternal, 2 Sam. 7:13; Acts 13:34.
- Isaiah 55:4 Meaning Christ, of whom David was a figure.
- Isaiah 55:5 To wit, the Gentiles, which before thou didst not receive to be thy people.
- Isaiah 55:6 When he offereth himself by the preaching of his word.
- Isaiah 55:7 Hereby he showeth that repentance must be joined with faith, and how we cannot call upon God aright, except the fruits of our faith appear.
- Isaiah 55:8 Although you are not soon reconciled one to another and judge me by yourselves, yet I am most easy to be reconciled, yea, I offer my mercies to you.
- Isaiah 55:11 If these small things have their effect, as daily experience showeth, much more shall my promise which I have made and confirmed, bring to pass the things which I have spoken for your deliverance.
- Isaiah 55:12 Read Isa. 44:23 and 49:13.
- Isaiah 55:13 To set forth his glory.
- Isaiah 55:13 Of God’s deliverance, and that he will never forsake his Church.
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.
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV) 
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.