Isaiah 57-58

New American Standard Bible 1995

57 The righteous man perishes, and no man ^(A)takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from ^(B)evil,
² He enters into peace;
They rest in their ^[a]beds,
Each one who ^(C)walked in his upright way.
³ “But come here, you sons of a ^(D)sorceress,
^(E)Offspring of an adulterer and ^[b]a ^(F)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 ^(G)rebellion,
Offspring of deceit,
⁵ Who inflame yourselves among the ^[c](H)oaks,
^(I)Under every luxuriant tree,
Who ^(J)slaughter the children in the ^[d]ravines,
Under the clefts of the crags?
⁶ “Among the ^[e](K)smooth stones of the ^[f]ravine
Is your portion, ^[g]they are your lot;
Even to them you have ^(L)poured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Shall I ^[h](M)relent concerning these things?
⁷ “Upon a ^(N)high and lofty mountain
You have ^(O)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 ^(P)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 ^[i]bed,
You have looked on their ^[j]manhood.
⁹ “You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have ^(Q)sent your envoys a great distance
And made them go down to ^[k]Sheol.
¹⁰ “You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘^(R)It is hopeless.’
You found ^[l]renewed strength,
Therefore you did not ^[m]faint.

58 “^(AV)Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their ^(AW)transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
² “Yet they ^(AX)seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done ^(AY)righteousness
And ^(AZ)has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight ^(BA)in the nearness of God.
³ ‘Why have we ^(BB)fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ^[q]notice?’
Behold, on the ^(BC)day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
⁴ “Behold, you fast for contention and ^(BD)strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to ^(BE)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 ^[r]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out ^(BF)sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an ^(BG)acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶ “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To ^(BH)loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to ^(BI)let the oppressed go free
And ^(BJ)break every yoke?
⁷ “Is it not to ^(BK)divide your bread ^[s]with the hungry
And ^(BL)bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the ^(BM)naked, to cover him;
And not to ^(BN)hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ “Then your ^(BO)light will break out like the dawn,
And your ^(BP)recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your ^(BQ)righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the ^(BR)Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ “Then you will ^(BS)call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you ^(BT)remove the yoke from your midst,
The ^[t](BU)pointing of the finger and ^(BV)speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ And if you ^[u](BW)give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ^[v]desire of the afflicted,
Then your ^(BX)light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
¹¹ “And the ^(BY)Lord will continually guide you,
And ^(BZ)satisfy your ^[w]desire in scorched places,
And ^(CA)give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a ^(CB)watered garden,
And like a ^(CC)spring of water whose waters do not ^[x]fail.
¹² “Those from among you will ^(CD)rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will ^(CE)raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the ^(CF)breach,
The restorer of the ^[y]streets in which to dwell.

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