Isaiah 56:1-59:15

New American Standard Bible 1995

56 Thus says the Lord,
“^(A)Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My ^(B)salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
² “How ^(C)blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who ^(D)takes hold of it;
Who ^(E)keeps from profaning the sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
³ Let not the ^(F)foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from His people.”
Nor let the ^(G)eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

“To the eunuchs who ^(H)keep My sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And ^(I)hold fast My covenant,
⁵ To them I will give in My ^(J)house and within My ^(K)walls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give ^[a]them an everlasting ^(L)name which ^(M)will not be cut off.

57 The righteous man perishes, and no man ^(AE)takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from ^(AF)evil,
² He enters into peace;
They rest in their ^[h]beds,
Each one who ^(AG)walked in his upright way.
³ “But come here, you sons of a ^(AH)sorceress,
^(AI)Offspring of an adulterer and ^[i]a ^(AJ)prostitute.
⁴ “Against whom do you jest?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of ^(AK)rebellion,
Offspring of deceit,
⁵ Who inflame yourselves among the ^[j](AL)oaks,
^(AM)Under every luxuriant tree,
Who ^(AN)slaughter the children in the ^[k]ravines,
Under the clefts of the crags?
⁶ “Among the ^[l](AO)smooth stones of the ^[m]ravine
Is your portion, ^[n]they are your lot;
Even to them you have ^(AP)poured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Shall I ^[o](AQ)relent concerning these things?
⁷ “Upon a ^(AR)high and lofty mountain
You have ^(AS)made your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
⁸ “Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your sign;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have ^(AT)uncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,
You have loved their ^[p]bed,
You have looked on their ^[q]manhood.
⁹ “You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have ^(AU)sent your envoys a great distance
And made them go down to ^[r]Sheol.
¹⁰ “You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘^(AV)It is hopeless.’
You found ^[s]renewed strength,
Therefore you did not ^[t]faint.

58 “^(BZ)Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their ^(CA)transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
² “Yet they ^(CB)seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done ^(CC)righteousness
And ^(CD)has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight ^(CE)in the nearness of God.
³ ‘Why have we ^(CF)fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ^[x]notice?’
Behold, on the ^(CG)day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
⁴ “Behold, you fast for contention and ^(CH)strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to ^(CI)make your voice heard on high.
⁵ “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing ^[y]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out ^(CJ)sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an ^(CK)acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶ “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To ^(CL)loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to ^(CM)let the oppressed go free
And ^(CN)break every yoke?
⁷ “Is it not to ^(CO)divide your bread ^[z]with the hungry
And ^(CP)bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the ^(CQ)naked, to cover him;
And not to ^(CR)hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ “Then your ^(CS)light will break out like the dawn,
And your ^(CT)recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your ^(CU)righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the ^(CV)Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ “Then you will ^(CW)call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you ^(CX)remove the yoke from your midst,
The ^[aa](CY)pointing of the finger and ^(CZ)speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ And if you ^[ab](DA)give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ^[ac]desire of the afflicted,
Then your ^(DB)light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
¹¹ “And the ^(DC)Lord will continually guide you,
And ^(DD)satisfy your ^[ad]desire in scorched places,
And ^(DE)give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a ^(DF)watered garden,
And like a ^(DG)spring of water whose waters do not ^[ae]fail.
¹² “Those from among you will ^(DH)rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will ^(DI)raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the ^(DJ)breach,
The restorer of the ^[af]streets in which to dwell.

¹³ “If because of the sabbath, you ^(DK)turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a ^(DL)delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your ^(DM)own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And ^(DN)speaking your own word,
¹⁴ Then you will take ^(DO)delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride ^(DP)on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the ^(DQ)mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

59 Behold, ^(DR)the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
^(DS)Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
² But your ^(DT)iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His ^[ag]face from you so that He does ^(DU)not hear.
³ For your ^(DV)hands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken ^(DW)falsehood,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
^4 (DX)No one sues righteously and ^(DY)no one pleads ^[ah]honestly.
They ^(DZ)trust in confusion and speak lies;
They ^(EA)conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs and ^(EB)weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.
⁶ Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they ^(EC)cover themselves with their works;
Their ^(ED)works are works of iniquity,
And an ^(EE)act of violence is in their ^[ai]hands.
^7 (EF)Their feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
^(EG)Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
⁸ They do not know the ^(EH)way of peace,
And there is ^(EI)no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
^(EJ)Whoever treads on ^[aj]them does not know peace.

⁹ Therefore ^(EK)justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We ^(EL)hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰ We ^(EM)grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We ^(EN)stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are ^(EO)like dead men.
¹¹ All of us growl like bears,
And ^(EP)moan sadly like doves;
We hope for ^(EQ)justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.
¹² For our ^(ER)transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our ^(ES)sins ^[ak]testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And ^[al]we know our iniquities:
¹³ Transgressing and ^(ET)denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking ^(EU)oppression and revolt,
Conceiving in and ^(EV)uttering from the heart lying words.
^14 (EW)Justice is turned back,
And ^(EX)righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵ Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil ^(EY)makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was ^[am]displeasing in His sight ^(EZ)that there was no justice.