Isaiah 58-59

New American Standard Bible

58 “^(A)Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their ^(B)wrongdoing,
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
² Yet they ^(C)seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done ^(D)righteousness
And ^(E)has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight ^(F)in the nearness of God.
³ ‘Why have we ^(G)fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ^[a]notice?’
Behold, on the ^(H)day of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
⁴ Behold, you fast for contention and ^(I)strife, and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you have done today to ^(J)make your voice heard on high!
⁵ Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it for bowing ^[b]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out ^(K)sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an ^(L)acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶ Is this not the fast that I choose:
To ^(M)release the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the ropes of the yoke,
And to ^(N)let the oppressed go free,
And ^(O)break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to ^(P)break your bread ^[c]with the hungry
And ^(Q)bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the ^(R)naked, to cover him;
And not to ^(S)hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then your ^(T)light will break out like the dawn,
And your ^(U)recovery will spring up quickly;
And your ^(V)righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the ^(W)Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will ^(X)call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you ^(Y)remove the yoke from your midst,
The ^[d](Z)pointing of the finger and ^(AA)speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ And if you ^(AB)offer yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ^[e]need of the afflicted,
Then your ^(AC)light will rise in darkness,
And your gloom will become like midday.
¹¹ And the ^(AD)Lord will continually guide you,
And ^(AE)satisfy your ^[f]desire in scorched places,
And ^(AF)give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a ^(AG)watered garden,
And like a ^(AH)spring of water whose waters do not ^[g]fail.
¹² Those from among you will ^(AI)rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will ^(AJ)raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the ^(AK)breach,
The restorer of the ^[h]streets in which to dwell.

¹³ “If, because of the Sabbath, you ^(AL)restrain your foot
From doing as you wish on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a ^(AM)pleasure, and the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your ^(AN)own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And ^(AO)speaking your own word,
¹⁴ Then you will take ^(AP)delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride ^(AQ)on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the ^(AR)mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

59 Behold, ^(AS)the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
^(AT)Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
² But your ^(AU)wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His ^[i]face from you so that He does ^(AV)not hear.
³ For your ^(AW)hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with wrongdoing;
Your lips have spoken ^(AX)deceit,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
^4 (AY)No one sues righteously and ^(AZ)no one pleads ^[j]honestly.
They ^(BA)trust in confusion and speak lies;
They ^(BB)conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
⁵ They hatch vipers’ eggs and ^(BC)weave the spider’s web;
The one who eats of their eggs dies,
And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.
⁶ Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they ^(BD)cover themselves with their works;
Their ^(BE)works are works of wrongdoing,
And an ^(BF)act of violence is in their ^[k]hands.
^7 (BG)Their feet run to evil,
And they hurry to shed innocent blood;
^(BH)Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing,
Devastation and destruction are in their paths.
⁸ They do not know the ^(BI)way of peace,
And there is ^(BJ)no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
^(BK)Whoever walks on ^[l]them does not know peace.

⁹ Therefore ^(BL)justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not reach us;
We ^(BM)hope for light, but there is darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰ We ^(BN)grope for the wall like people who are blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We ^(BO)stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are ^(BP)like the dead.
¹¹ All of us growl like bears,
And ^(BQ)moan sadly like doves;
We hope for ^(BR)justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
¹² For our ^(BS)wrongful acts have multiplied before You,
And our ^(BT)sins have testified against us;
For our wrongful acts are with us,
And ^[m]we know our wrongdoings:
^13 [n]Offending and ^(BU)denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking ^(BV)oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and ^(BW)uttering lying words from the heart.
^14 (BX)Justice is turned back,
And ^(BY)righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵ Truth is lacking,
And one who turns aside from evil ^(BZ)makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was ^[o]displeasing in His sight ^(CA)that there was no justice.
¹⁶ And He saw that there was ^(CB)no one,
And was amazed that there was not one to intercede;
Then His ^(CC)own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
¹⁷ He put on ^(CD)righteousness like a breastplate,
And a ^(CE)helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on ^(CF)garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with ^(CG)zeal as a cloak.
^18 (CH)According to their deeds, ^[p]so will He repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, ^[q]retribution to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will ^[r]deal ^[s]retribution.
¹⁹ So they will fear the name of the Lord from the ^(CI)west
And His glory from the ^(CJ)rising of the sun,
For He will ^(CK)come like a ^[t]rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.
²⁰ “A ^(CL)Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob who ^(CM)turn from wrongdoing,” declares the Lord.