Isaiah 55-56
Christian Standard Bible
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 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)
this will stand as a monument for the Lord,(R)
an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.
A House of Prayer for All
56 This is what the Lord says:
Preserve justice and do what is right,(S)
for my salvation is coming soon,
and my righteousness will be revealed.(T)
2 Happy is the person who does this,
the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.(U)
3 No foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord
should say,
“The Lord will exclude me from his people,”(V)
and the eunuch should not say,
“Look, I am a dried-up tree.”(W)
4 For the Lord says this:
“For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
and choose what pleases me,
and hold firmly to my covenant,
5 I will give them, in my house and within my walls,
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters.
I will give each of them an everlasting name
that will never be cut off.(X)
6 As for the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to become his servants—
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold firmly to my covenant—
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain(Y)
and let them rejoice in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,(Z)
for my house will be called a house of prayer
for all nations.”(AA)
8 This is the declaration of the Lord God,
who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
“I will gather to them still others
besides those already gathered.”(AB)
Unrighteous Leaders Condemned
9 All you animals of the field and forest,
come and eat!
10 Israel’s[c] watchmen(AC) are blind, all of them,
they know nothing;
all of them are mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they dream, lie down,
and love to sleep.
11 These dogs have fierce appetites;
they never have enough.
And they are shepherds
who have no discernment;
all of them turn to their own way,
every last one for his own profit.(AD)
12 “Come, let me get some wine,
let’s guzzle some beer;
and tomorrow will be like today,
only far better!” (AE)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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