Isaiah 56
New King James Version
Salvation for the Gentiles
56 Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
(A)For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
(B)Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 Do not let (C)the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the (D)eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
5 Even to them I will give in (E)My house
And within My walls a place (F)and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give [a]them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.
6 “Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
7 Even them I will (G)bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My (H)house of prayer.
(I)Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be (J)accepted on My altar;
For (K)My house shall be called a house of prayer (L)for all nations.”
8 The Lord God, (M)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
(N)“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”
Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders
9 (O)All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
All you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are (P)blind,
They are all ignorant;
(Q)They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
[b]Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are (R)greedy[c] dogs
Which (S)never[d] have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.
12 “Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,
And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating (T)drink;
(U)Tomorrow will be (V)as today,
And much more abundant.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 56:5 Lit. him
- Isaiah 56:10 Or Dreaming
- Isaiah 56:11 Lit. strong of soul
- Isaiah 56:11 Lit. do not know satisfaction
Isaiah 56
Expanded Bible
All Nations Will Obey the Lord
56 This is what the Lord says:
“·Give justice to all people [Promote justice],
and ·do what is right [practice righteousness],
because my salvation ·will come to you soon [draws near].
Soon ·everyone will know that I do what is right [my righteousness will be revealed].
2 The person who ·obeys the law about [keeps from defiling] the Sabbath
will be blessed,
and the ·person [L son of man] who ·does no [keeps his hand from doing] evil
will be blessed.”
3 Foreigners who have ·joined [committed to] the Lord should not say,
“The Lord will ·not accept me with [L exclude/separate me from] his people [14:1].”
The eunuch should not say,
“·Because I cannot have children, the Lord will not accept me [L Look, I am a dry tree].”
4 This is what the Lord says:
“This is for the eunuchs who ·obey the law about the Sabbath [keep my Sabbaths]
and ·do what I want [choose what pleases me]
and ·keep [hold firmly to] my ·agreement [covenant]:
5 I will ·make their names remembered [L set up a memorial/monument and a name]
within my ·Temple [L house] and its walls.
It will be better for them than ·children [L sons and daughters].
I will give them a name that will last forever,
that will ·never be forgotten [L not be cut off].
6 As for the foreigners who ·join [commit themselves to] the Lord
to ·worship [minister to] him and love ·him [L his name],
to serve him,
to ·obey the law about [keep from defiling] the Sabbath,
and to ·keep [hold firmly to] my ·agreement [covenant]:
7 I will bring these people to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
The offerings and sacrifices
they place on my altar will ·please me [be accepted],
because my Temple will be called
a house for prayer for people from all nations [Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46].”
8 The Lord God says—
he who gathers the ·Israelites that were forced to leave their country [outcasts/exiles of Israel]:
“I will ·bring together [gather] other people
to join those who are already gathered.”
Israel’s Leaders Are Evil
9 All you ·animals [beasts] of the field,
all you animals of the forest, come to ·eat [devour].
10 ·The leaders who are to guard the people [L His watchmen; 62:6] are blind;
they ·don’t know what they are doing [lack knowledge; are ignorant].
All of them are like ·quiet [mute; or muzzled] dogs
that ·don’t know how to [cannot] bark.
They lie down and dream
and love to sleep.
11 They are like ·hungry [greedy; ravenous] dogs
that are never satisfied.
They are like shepherds
who ·don’t know what they are doing [lack understanding; are ignorant; Ezek. 34:2–3].
They all have gone their own way;
·all they want to do is satisfy themselves [each seeks their own gain/profit].
12 They say, “Come, let’s drink some wine;
let’s ·drink all the [fill ourselves with] ·beer [T strong drink; C alcoholic beverage made from grain] we want.
And tomorrow ·we will do this again [will be like today],
·or, maybe we will have an even better time [even better; or it will be very great indeed; L very much abundantly great].”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.