Beginning

The Lord Loves Israel

54 “Woman, be happy, you who have had no children. Cry for joy, you who have never had the pains of having a child, for you will have many children. Yes, you will have more children than the one who has a husband,” says the Lord. ² “Make your tent bigger. Spread out the curtains of your home, and do not hold back. Make your ropes longer and your tie-downs stronger. ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will own nations, and they will fill the destroyed cities with people.

⁴ “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Do not be troubled, for you will not be put to shame. You will forget how you were ashamed when you were young. You will not remember the sorrow of being without a husband any more. ⁵ Your Maker is your husband. His name is the Lord of All. And the One Who saves you is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God of All the earth. ⁶ For the Lord has called you like a wife left alone and filled with sorrow, like a wife who married when young and is left,” says your God. ⁷ “For a short time I left you, but with much loving-pity I will take you back. ⁸ When I was very angry I hid My face from you for a short time. But with loving-kindness that lasts forever I will have pity on you,” says the Lord Who bought you and saves you.

⁹ “For this is like the days of Noah to Me. As I promised that the waters of Noah should not flood the earth again, so I have promised that I will not be angry with you or speak sharp words to you. ¹⁰ The mountains may be taken away and the hills may shake, but My loving-kindness will not be taken from you. And My agreement of peace will not be shaken,” says the Lord who has loving-pity on you.

¹¹ “O suffering one, shaken by the storm and not comforted, see, I will set your stones in beautiful colors. You will stand upon blue stones of much worth. ¹² I will make your towers of bright red stones. Your gates will be made of shining stones, and all your walls will be made of stones of great worth. ¹³ All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and the well-being of your children will be great. ¹⁴ All will be right and good for you. No one over you will make it hard for you, and you will not be afraid. You will be far from trouble, for it will not come near you. ¹⁵ If anyone brings trouble against you, it will not be from Me. Whoever comes against you will fall because of you. ¹⁶ See, I Myself have made the workman who blows on the fire to give it more heat and makes a sword for its work. I have made the destroyer to destroy. ¹⁷ No tool that is made to fight against you will do well. And you will prove wrong every tongue that says you are guilty. This is the gift given to the servants of the Lord. I take away their guilt and make them right,” says the Lord.

A Great Full Life

55 “Listen! Every one who is thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Why spend your pay for what you do not enjoy? Listen well to Me, and eat what is good. Find joy in the best food. ³ Listen and come to Me. Hear, so you may live. And I will make an agreement with you that lasts forever, because of the faithful love promised to David. ⁴ See, I made him one who told of what he had seen and heard to the nations, a leader and ruler of the people. ⁵ See, you will call nations that you do not know. And nations that did not know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. For He has given shining-greatness to you.”

⁶ Look for the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the sinful turn from his way, and the one who does not know God turn from his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have loving-pity on him. Let him turn to our God, for He will for sure forgive all his sins. ⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways,” says the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ The rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without giving water to the earth. This makes plants grow on the earth, and gives seeds to the planter and bread to the eater. ¹¹ So My Word which goes from My mouth will not return to Me empty. It will do what I want it to do, and will carry out My plan well. ¹² You will go out with joy, and be led out in peace. The mountains and the hills will break out into sounds of joy before you. And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress tree will come up. Instead of the thistle, the myrtle tree will come up. It will cause you to remember the Lord, something special to see that will last forever.”

All Nations Can Be Saved

56 The Lord says, “Hold on to what is right and fair. Do what is right and good. My saving power will soon come, and I will show what is right. ² How happy is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it! How happy is he who keeps the Day of Rest holy, and keeps his hand from doing wrong.” ³ Let not the man from a strange land who has joined the Lord say, “For sure the Lord will keep me away from His people.” Let not the man who had been made so that he could not have children say, “See, I am a dry tree.” ⁴ To these the Lord says, “If these servants keep My Days of Rest and choose what pleases Me, and hold on to My agreement, ⁵ I will give them something in My house and within My walls to be remembered. I will give them a name better than that of sons and daughters, a name that will be forever and never be cut off.

⁶ “And those from a strange land who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him and to love His name, to be His servants, and keep the Day of Rest holy, and keep My agreement, ⁷ even those I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and gifts will be received on My altar. For My house will be called a house of prayer for all people.” ⁸ The Lord God Who gathers the people of Israel from other lands says, “I will gather yet others to them, besides those already gathered.”

Israel’s Sinful Leaders

⁹ All you animals of the field, all you animals among the trees, come to eat. ¹⁰ The men of Israel who keep watch are blind to trouble. They know very little. They are all dogs that cannot make noise. They dream and lie down, and love to sleep. ¹¹ The dogs are hungry and never have enough. The shepherds have no understanding. They have all turned to their own way, each one wanting to get things for himself that are not his. ¹² “Come,” they say, “let us get wine. Let us drink much strong drink. And tomorrow will be even better than today.”

False Gods Must Be Put Away

57 “The man who is right and good dies, and no one cares. Very good men are taken away, while no one understands. But the man who is right with God is taken away from what is sinful, ² and goes where there is peace. They have rest in their graves, each one who walked in the right way. ³ But come here, you sons of a witch, children of a man who does sex sins and a woman who sells the use of her body. ⁴ Against whom are you making fun? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and put out your tongue? Are you not children of sin, the young ones of lies? ⁵ You burn with desire with your false gods under every green tree. You put your children on the altar of your false gods in the valleys under high rocks that hang over. ⁶ Your part is among the smooth stones of the valley. They are what you get. You have poured out drink gifts to them and given grain gifts. Should I be pleased about these things? ⁷ You have made your bed on a high mountain. And you went up there to give your gifts in worship. ⁸ You have put up your false gods behind the door on the other side. You have turned away from Me and have taken the covering off yourself. You have gone up and made your bed wide. You have made an agreement for yourselves with them. You have loved their bed, and have looked upon their bodies. ⁹ You have traveled to the king with oil and much perfume. You have sent your men with gifts a very long way, and made them go down to the place of the dead. ¹⁰ You were tired because your road was so long, yet you did not say, ‘There is no hope.’ You found new strength, so you did not become weak.

¹¹ “Of whom were you afraid, when you lied, and did not remember Me or think about Me? Have I not been quiet for a long time, so you are not afraid of Me? ¹² I will make known how right you are and what you have done, but it will not help you. ¹³ When you cry out, let the false gods that you have take you out of trouble. The wind will carry them away. A breath will take them away. But he who comes to Me to be safe will receive the land. My holy mountain will be his.”

God’s Promise for Help

¹⁴ It will be said, “Build up, build up, make the way ready. Take everything out of the way of My people.” ¹⁵ For the high and honored One Who lives forever, Whose name is Holy, says, “I live in the high and holy place. And I also live with those who are sorry for their sins and have turned from them and are not proud. I give new strength to the spirit of those without pride, and also to those whose hearts are sorry for their sins. ¹⁶ I will keep on fighting against you, and will not always be angry, for then your spirit would become weak before Me, the ones to whom I gave life. ¹⁷ Because of the sin of his desire to get more of everything, I was angry. I punished him and hid My face in anger. He went on sinning, following the way of his own heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him and give comfort to him and to those who have sorrow for him. ¹⁹ I will make the lips to praise. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” ²⁰ But the sinful are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest. Its waters throw up mud and dirt. ²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the sinful.”

Going without Food Pleases God

58 “Cry with a loud voice. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a horn, and show My people their wrong-doing and the family of Jacob their sins. ² Yet they look for Me day by day, and are happy to know My ways, as a nation that has done what is right and good, and has not turned away from the Law of their God. They ask Me to be fair in what I decide, and they are happy to come near to God. ³ They say, ‘Why have we gone without food, and You do not see it? Why have we put away our pride, and You do not know it?’ See, on the day you do not eat, you do what you want to do, and make it hard for all your workers. ⁴ See, while you go without food you argue and fight and hit with a sinful hand. Going without food as you do today will not help your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is it a time without eating like this that I choose, a day for a man to put away his pride? Is it for bowing his head like a piece of grass, and to spread ashes and cloth made from hair for his bed? Will you call this time without eating a day that pleases the Lord? ⁶ Is not the time without eating which I choose, a time to take off the chains of sin, and to take the heavy load of sin off the neck? Is it not a time to let those who suffer under a sinful power go free, and to break every load from their neck? ⁷ Is it not a time to share your food with the hungry, and bring the poor man into your house who has no home of his own? Is it not a time to give clothes to the person you see who has no clothes, and a time not to hide yourself from your own family? ⁸ Then your light will break out like the early morning, and you will soon be healed. Your right and good works will go before you. And the shining-greatness of the Lord will keep watch behind you. ⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take the weight of sin away, and stop putting the blame on others and stop speaking sinful things, ¹⁰ and if you give what you have to the hungry, and fill the needs of those who suffer, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the brightest time of day. ¹¹ The Lord will always lead you. He will meet the needs of your soul in the dry times and give strength to your body. You will be like a garden that has enough water, like a well of water that never dries up. ¹² And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.

¹³ “If you keep from doing what pleases you on the Day of Rest, on My holy day and call the Day of Rest a happy time, and respect the holy day of the Lord, and if you honor it by turning from your own ways, and from following your own desire and by not talking in a foolish way, ¹⁴ then you will have joy in the Lord. I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth. And I will feed you with the best from the land given to your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”