Isaiah 58-59

International Standard Version

False and True Worship

58 “Shout aloud!
    Don’t hold back!
        Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Declare to my people their rebellions,^[a]
    and to the house of Jacob their sins.
²They^[b] seek me day after day,^[c]
    and are eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practices righteousness
    and has not forsaken the justice of their God.

“They ask me to reveal just decisions;
    they are eager to draw near to God.
³‘Why have we fasted,’ they ask,^[d]
    ‘but you do not see?
‘Why have we humbled ourselves,’^[e] they ask,^[f]
    ‘but you take no notice?’”

Fasting that God Approves

“Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest
and oppress all your workers.

⁴“Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for^[g] fighting,
and for hitting with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and have your voice heard on high.

⁵“Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen,
    merely a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it merely for bowing down one’s head like a bulrush,
    for lying^[h] on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you^[i] call a fast,
    an^[j] acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶Isn’t this the^[k] fast that^[l] I have been choosing:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
and^[m] to untie the cords of the yoke,
    and^[n] to let the oppressed go free,
        and to break every yoke?
⁷Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,
    and to bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked,
    to cover him with clothing,^[o]
        and not to raise yourself up^[p] from your own flesh and blood?”

God’s Reward

⁸“Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will spring up quickly;
and your vindication will go before you,
    and^[q] the glory of the Lord will guard your back.
⁹Then you’ll call,
    and the Lord will answer;
you’ll cry for help,
    and he’ll respond, ‘Here I am.’

“If you do away with the yoke among you,
    and^[r] pointing fingers and malicious talk;
¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of afflicted souls,
then your light will rise in darkness,
    and your night will be like noonday.
¹¹And the Lord will guide you continually,
    and satisfy your soul in parched places,^[s]
        and they^[t] will strengthen your bones;
and you’ll be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
        whose waters never fail.
¹²And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
    You’ll raise up the age-old foundations,^[u]
and people will call you^[v] ‘Repairer of Broken Walls,’
    ‘Restorer of Streets to Live In.’

¹³“If you keep your feet from trampling the Sabbath,
    from^[w] pursuing your own interests on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and^[x] the Lord’s holy day honorable;
and if you honor it by not going your own ways^[y]
    and^[z] seeking your own pleasure or speaking merely idle^[aa] words,
¹⁴then you will take delight in the Lord,
    and he^[ab] will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
and he^[ac] will make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob, your father.

“Yes! The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Sins that Separate from God

59 “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
    nor are his ears^[ad] too dull to hear.
²Instead, your iniquities have been barriers
    between you and your God,
and your sins have concealed his face from you
    so that he won’t listen.
³For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity;
        your tongue^[ae] mutters wickedness.
⁴No one brings a lawsuit fairly,
    and no one goes to law honestly;
they have relied^[af] on empty arguments
    and they tell lies;
they conceive^[ag] trouble
    and give birth^[ah] to iniquity.
⁵They hatch^[ai] adders’ eggs^[aj]
    and weave^[ak] a spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
    and any crushed egg hatches out futility.^[al]
⁶Their cobwebs cannot become clothing,
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are deeds of iniquity,
    and acts of violence fill their hands.
⁷Their feet rush to evil,
    and they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    ruin, destruction, and violence^[am] are in their paths.
⁸The pathway of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their courses.
They have made their roads crooked;
    no one who walks in them will know peace.”

A Commitment to Wait on God

⁹“So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but look—there is darkness;
    we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness.^[an]
¹⁰Let’s grope^[ao] along the wall like the blind;
    let us grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as if it were twilight,
    in desolate places^[ap] like dead people.
¹¹We all growl like bears;
    we^[aq] sigh mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
    and^[ar] for deliverance, but it’s far from us.

¹²“For our transgressions before you are many,
    and our sins testify^[as] against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and as for our iniquities,
        we acknowledge them:
¹³they’ve rebelled^[at] in^[au] treachery against the Lord,
    and are turning away from following our God;
and they’ve spoken^[av] oppression and revolt,
    and are conceiving^[aw] lying words from the heart.
¹⁴I’ll drive back justice,^[ax]
    and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth has fallen in the public square,
    and honesty cannot enter.
¹⁵Truth is missing,
    and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”

God Brings His Own Salvation

“Then the Lord looked, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.
¹⁶He saw that there was no one,
    and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm^[ay] brought him victory,
    and his righteous acts upheld him.
¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in fury like a cloak.
¹⁸So he will repay according to their action:
    Anger to his enemies, retribution to his foes;
        to the coastlands he will render their due.
¹⁹So people will fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glories^[az] from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a pent-up stream
    that the breath of the Lord drives along.

²⁰“And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” says the Lord.

²¹“As for me, this is my covenant with them,”^[ba] says the Lord. “And^[bb] my Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, won’t depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children,^[bc] from now on and forever.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 58:1 So 1QIsa^a LXX; 1QIsa^b MT read rebellion
Isaiah 58:2 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsa^d LXX; MT reads And they
Isaiah 58:2 Lit. me day and day; so 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b 4QIsa^d MT read me day, day
Isaiah 58:3 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsa^d LXX MT lack they ask
Isaiah 58:3 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b LXX; MT reads ourself
Isaiah 58:3 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsa^d LXX MT lack they ask
Isaiah 58:4 So 1QIsa^b 1QIsa^a; MT LXX lack for
Isaiah 58:5 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b; MT LXX read and for lying
Isaiah 58:5 So 1QIsa^a 4QIsa^d LXX (pl.); 1QIsa^b MT (sing.)
Isaiah 58:5 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b; MT reads and an
Isaiah 58:6 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX lack the
Isaiah 58:6 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX lack that
Isaiah 58:6 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX lack and
Isaiah 58:6 So 1QIsa^a MT; 1QIsa^b 4QIsa^d LXX lack and
Isaiah 58:7 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX lack with clothing
Isaiah 58:7 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT read to hide yourself; LXX reads to disregard
Isaiah 58:8 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b LXX; MT lacks and
Isaiah 58:9 So 1QIsa^a LXX; 1QIsa^b MT lack and
Isaiah 58:11 1QIsa^a spells the word places incorrectly
Isaiah 58:11 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b; MT reads he; LXX reads and your bones will be strengthened
Isaiah 58:12 Lit. the foundations of many generations
Isaiah 58:12 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX read you will be called
Isaiah 58:13 So 1QIsa^a 4QIsaⁿ; 1QIsa^b MT lack from
Isaiah 58:13 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsaⁿ; MT LXX lack and
Isaiah 58:13 So 1QIsa^a 4QIsaⁿ MT; 1QIsa^b reads way
Isaiah 58:13 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT lack and
Isaiah 58:13 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsaⁿ MT LXX lack merely idle
Isaiah 58:14 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b 4QIsaⁿ LXX; MT reads and I
Isaiah 58:14 So 1QIsa^a LXX; 1QIsa^b 4QIsaⁿ MT read and I
Isaiah 59:1 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX read ear
Isaiah 59:3 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX read your lips have spoken lies, your tongue
Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b; MT reads they rely
Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT reads to conceive
Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsa^a 1QIsa^b; MT reads and to give birth
Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT reads They have hatched; LXX reads hatched
Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsa^a LXX; 1QIsa^b MT read an adder’s eggs
Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads weave, but with a different Heb. word
Isaiah 59:5 Lit. a viper; so 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX utilize feminine form
Isaiah 59:7 So 1QIsa^a; MT LXX lack and violence
Isaiah 59:9 So 1QIsa^a LXX; MT reads darknesses
Isaiah 59:10 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads We grope LXX reads They grope
Isaiah 59:10 Or among vigorous people
Isaiah 59:11 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads and we
Isaiah 59:11 So 1QIsa^a; Not in MT LXX
Isaiah 59:12 1QIsa^a cf. LXX; MT reads sin testifies
Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads rebellion LXX reads we have sinned
Isaiah 59:13 Lit. and
Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads speaking LXX reads we have spoken
Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads conceiving and uttering; LXX reads we have conceived and thought about
Isaiah 59:14 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads Justice is driven back LXX reads We withdrew justice
Isaiah 59:16 I.e. the Messiah
Isaiah 59:19 So 1QIsa^a; MT reads glory LXX reads his glorious name
Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsa^a MT^mss LXX; 1QIsa^b MT read them, but the reading contains a grammatical object error
Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX lack And
Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsa^a; 1QIsa^b MT LXX read children, says the Lord,

International Standard Version (ISV)

Isaiah 58-59 International Standard Version