Isaiah 56 - 61 — Legacy Standard Bible

Salvation for the Foreigner

56Thus says Yahweh, “^aKeep justice and do righteousness,For My ^bsalvation is about to comeAnd My righteousness to be revealed.

²“How ^ablessed is the man who does this,And the son of man who ^btakes hold of it,Who ^ckeeps from profaning the sabbath,And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”³Let not the ^aforeigner who has joined himself to Yahweh say,“Yahweh will surely separate me from His people.”Nor let the ^beunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”⁴For thus says Yahweh,“To the eunuchs who ^akeep My sabbaths,And choose what pleases Me,And ^bhold fast My covenant,⁵To them I will give in My ^ahouse and within My ^bwalls a ¹memorial,And a name better than that of sons and daughters;I will give ²them an everlasting ^cname which ^dwill not be cut off.⁶“Also the ^aforeigners who join themselves to Yahweh,To minister to Him, and to love the name of Yahweh,To be His ¹slaves, every one who ^bkeeps from profaning the sabbathAnd takes hold of My covenant,⁷Even ^athose I will bring to My ^bholy mountainAnd ^cmake them glad in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on ^dMy altar;For ^eMy house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”⁸Lord Yahweh, who ^agathers the banished of Israel, declares,“Yet ^bothers I will gather to ¹them, to those already gathered.”⁹All you ^abeasts of the field,All you beasts in the forest,Come to eat.¹⁰His ^awatchmen are ^bblind;All of them know nothing.All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,¹Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;¹¹And the dogs have a ^astrong ¹appetite; they do not know satisfaction.And they are shepherds who ^bdo not know understanding;They have all ^cturned to their own way,Each one to his greedy gain, to the last one.¹²“Come,” they say, “let ¹us take ^awine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;And ^btomorrow will be like today—²beyond exceedingly great.”

Evil Leaders Rebuked

57The righteous man perishes, and no man ^aputs it upon his heart;And men of lovingkindness are gathered away, while no one understands.For the righteous man is gathered away from ^bevil,²He enters into peace;They rest in their ¹beds,Each one who ^awalked in his upright way.³“But draw near, you sons of a ^asoothsayer,^bSeed of an adulterer and ¹a ^cprostitute.⁴“Against whom do you jest?Against whom do you open wide your mouthAnd stick out your tongue?Are you not children of ^atransgression,Seed of lying,⁵Who inflame yourselves among the ¹^,^aoaks,^bUnder every green tree,Who ^cslaughter the children in the ²ravines,Under the clefts of the cliffs?⁶“Among the ¹^,^asmooth stones of the ²ravineIs your portion, ³they are your lot;Even to them you have ^bpoured out a drink offering;You have made a grain offering.Shall I ⁴^,^crelent concerning these things?⁷“Upon a mountain ^alofty and lifted upYou have ^bmade your bed.You also went up there to offer sacrifice.⁸“Behind the door and the doorpostYou have set up your memorial;Indeed, far removed from Me, you have ^auncovered yourself,And have gone up and made your bed wide,And you have cut a covenant for yourself with them;You have loved their ¹bed;You have looked on their ²manhood.⁹“You have journeyed to the king with oilAnd increased your perfumes;You have ^asent your envoys a great distanceAnd made them go down to Sheol.¹⁰“You were tired out by the length of your road,Yet you did not say, ‘^aIt is hopeless.’You found ¹renewed strength;Therefore you did not ²faint.¹¹“Of ^awhom were you anxious and fearfulWhen you lied and did ^bnot remember Me,Nor even ^cput Me upon your heart?Was I not silent even for a long timeSo you do not fear Me?¹²“I will ^adeclare your righteousness and your ^bdeeds,But they will not profit you.¹³“When you cry out, ^alet your collection of idols deliver you.But the wind will lift all of them up,And a breath will take them away.But he who ^btakes refuge in Me will ^cinherit the landAnd will ^dpossess My holy mountain.”

Yahweh Revives the Spirit of the Lowly

¹⁴And it will be said,“^aBuild up, build up, prepare the way,¹Remove every stumbling block out of the way of My people.”¹⁵For thus says the One ^ahigh and lifted upWho ^bdwells forever, whose name is Holy,“I ^cdwell on a high and holy place,And also with the ^dcrushed and lowly of spiritIn order to ^erevive the spirit of the lowlyAnd to revive the heart of the crushed.¹⁶“For I will ^anot contend forever,^bNor will I always be angry;For the spirit would grow faint before Me,And the ^cbreath of those whom I have made.¹⁷“Because of the iniquity of his ^agreedy gain I was angry and struck him;I hid My face and was angry,And he went on ^bturning away, in the way of his heart.¹⁸“I have seen his ways, but I will ^aheal him;I will ^blead him and ^cpay him and his mourners in full with comfort,¹⁹Creating the ¹^,^apraise of the lips.^bPeace, peace to him who is ^cfar and to him who is near,”Says Yahweh, “and I will heal him.”²⁰But the ^awicked are like the tossing sea,For it cannot be quiet,And its waters toss up refuse and mud.²¹“^aThere is no peace,” says ^bmy God, “for the wicked.”

Fasting as Yahweh Chooses

58“^aCall out from your throat, do not hold back;Raise your voice like a trumpet,And declare to My people their ^btransgressionAnd to the house of Jacob their sins.²“Yet they ^aseek Me day by day and find pleasure in knowing My ways,As a nation that has done ^brighteousnessAnd ^chas not forsaken the judgment of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;They find pleasure in ^dthe nearness of God.³‘Why have we ^afasted and You do not see?Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’Behold, on the ^bday of your fast you find your desire,And oppress all your workers.⁴“Behold, you fast for contention and ^aquarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.You do not fast like you do today to ^bmake your voice heard on high.⁵“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?Is it for bowing ¹one’s head like a reedAnd for spreading out ^asackcloth and ashes as a bed?Will you call this a fast, even an ^bacceptable day to Yahweh?⁶“Is this not the fast which I choose,To ^aloosen the bonds of wickedness,To release the bands of ¹the yoke,And to ^blet the oppressed go freeAnd ^cbreak every ²yoke?⁷“Is it not to ^adivide your bread ¹with the hungryAnd ^bbring the afflicted homeless into the house;When you see the ^cnaked, you cover him;And not to ^dhide yourself from your own flesh?⁸“Then your ^alight will break out like the dawn,And your ^brecovery will speedily spring forth;And your ^crighteousness will go before you;The glory of ^dYahweh will be your rear guard.⁹“Then you will ^acall, and Yahweh will answer;You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’If you ^bremove the ¹yoke from your midst,The ²^,^cpointing of the finger and ^dspeaking wickedness,¹⁰And if you ¹^,^aoffer your soul to the hungryAnd satisfy the soul of the afflicted,Then your ^blight will rise in darknessAnd your thick darkness will become like midday.¹¹“And ^aYahweh will continually guide you,And ^bsatisfy your soul in scorched places,And ^cfortify your bones;And you will be like a ^dwatered garden,And like a ^espring of water whose waters do not ¹fail.¹²“Those from among you will ^arebuild the ancient waste places;You will ^braise up the foundations of past generation upon generation;And you will be called the repairer of the ^cbreach,The restorer of the paths for one to inhabit.

Keeping the Sabbath

¹³“If because of the sabbath, you ^aturn your footFrom doing your own desire on My holy day,And call the sabbath a ^bdelight, the holy day of Yahweh honorable,And honor it, by not doing your ^cown ways,By not finding your own desireAnd ^dspeaking your own word,¹⁴Then you will take ^adelight in Yahweh,And I will make you ride ^bon the heights of the earth;And I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father,For the ^cmouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Separation from Yahweh

59Behold, ^athe hand of Yahweh is not so shortThat it cannot save;^bNor is His ear so ¹dullThat it cannot hear.²But your ^ainiquities have made a separation between you and your God,And your sins have hidden His ¹face from you so that He does ^bnot hear.³For your ^ahands are defiled with bloodAnd your fingers with iniquity;Your lips have spoken a ^blie;Your tongue mutters unrighteousness.⁴^aNo one calls in righteousness, and ^bno one seeks justice in truth.They ^ctrust in ¹confusion and speak worthlessness;They ^dconceive trouble and give birth to wickedness.⁵They break open vipers’ eggs and ^aweave the spider’s web;He who eats of their eggs dies,And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.⁶Their webs will not become a garment,Nor will they ^acover themselves with their works;Their ^bworks are works of wickedness,And a ^cdeed of violence is in their ¹hands.⁷^aTheir feet run to evil,And they are quick to shed innocent blood;^bTheir thoughts are thoughts of wickedness;Devastation and destruction are in their highways.⁸They do not know the ^away of peace,And there is ^bno justice in their tracks;They have made their paths crooked,^cWhoever treads on ¹them does not know peace.

Transgressing and Denying Yahweh

⁹Therefore ^ajustice is far from us,And righteousness does not overtake us;We ^bhope for light, but behold, darkness,For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness.¹⁰We ^agrope along the wall like blind men;We grope like those who have no eyes;We ^bstumble at midday as in the twilight,Among those who are vigorous we are ^clike dead men.¹¹All of us growl like bears,And ^amoan sadly like doves;We hope for ^bjustice, but there is none,For salvation, but it is far from us.¹²For our ^atransgressions are multiplied before You,And our ^bsins answer against us;For our transgressions are with us,And ¹we know our iniquities:¹³Transgressing and ^adenying Yahweh,And turning back from our God,Speaking ^boppression and revolt,Conceiving in and ^cuttering from the heart lying words.¹⁴^aJustice is turned back,And ^brighteousness stands far away;For truth has stumbled in the street,And rightness cannot enter.¹⁵So it is that truth is missing;And he who turns aside from evil ^amakes himself plunder.Then Yahweh saw,And it was evil in His eyes ^bthat there was no justice.¹⁶And He saw that there was ^ano man,And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;Then His ^bown arm brought salvation to Him,And His righteousness upheld Him.¹⁷He put on ^arighteousness like a breastplate,And a ^bhelmet of salvation on His head;And He put on ^cgarments of vengeance for clothingAnd wrapped Himself with ^dzeal as a mantle.¹⁸^aAccording to ¹what they deserve, ²so He will pay in full,Wrath to His adversaries, ³what is deserved to His enemies;To the coastlands He will ⁴pay what they deserve.¹⁹So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the ^awestAnd His glory from the ^brising of the sun,For He will ^ccome like a ¹rushing streamWhich the wind of Yahweh makes flee.²⁰“A ^aRedeemer will come to Zion,And to those who ^bturn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh.

²¹“As for Me, this is My ^acovenant with them,” says Yahweh: “My ^bSpirit which is upon you, and My ^cwords which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from now and forever.”

A Glorified Zion

60“^aArise, shine, for your ^blight has come,And the ^cglory of Yahweh has risen upon you.²“For behold, ^adarkness will cover the earthAnd dense gloom the peoples;But Yahweh will rise upon you,And His ^bglory will appear upon you.³“^aNations will come to your light,And kings to the brightness of your rising.⁴“^aLift up your eyes round about and see;They all gather together; they ^bcome to you.Your sons will come from afar,And your ^cdaughters will be ¹carried on the nurses’ hip.⁵“Then you will see and be ^aradiant,And your heart will tremble and be large with joy;Because the ^babundance of the sea will be turned to you,The ^cwealth of the nations will come to you.⁶“A multitude of camels will cover you,The young camels of Midian and ^aEphah;All those from ^bSheba will come;They will bring ^cgold and frankincense,And will ^dbear good news of the praises of Yahweh.⁷“All the flocks of ^aKedar will be gathered together to you;The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you;They will go up with acceptance on My ^baltar,And I shall ¹^,^cadorn My ²glorious house with beautiful glory.⁸“^aWho are these who fly like a cloudAnd like the doves to their ¹lattices?⁹“Surely the ^acoastlands will hope in Me;And the ^bships of Tarshish will come first,To ^cbring your sons from afar,Their silver and their gold with them,For the name of Yahweh your God,And for the Holy One of Israel because He has ¹^,^dadorned you with beautiful glory.¹⁰“^aForeigners will build up your walls,And their ^bkings will minister to you;For in My ^cwrath I struck you,And in My favor I have had compassion on you.¹¹“Your ^agates will be open continually;They will not be closed day or night,So that men may ^bbring to you the wealth of the nations,With ^ctheir kings led in procession.¹²“For the ^anation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,And the nations will surely be laid waste.¹³“The ^aglory of Lebanon will come to you,The ^bjuniper, the box tree, and the cypress together,To adorn the place of My sanctuary with beautiful glory;And I shall make the ^cplace of My feet glorious.¹⁴“The ^asons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,And all those who spurned you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet;And they will call you the ^bCity of Yahweh,The ^cZion of the Holy One of Israel.¹⁵“Instead of being ^aforsaken and ^bhatedWith no one passing through,I will make you an everlasting ^cpride,A joy from generation to generation.¹⁶“You will also ^asuck the milk of nationsAnd suck the breast of kings;Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your ^bSaviorAnd your ^cRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.¹⁷“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,And instead of iron I will bring silver,And instead of wood, bronze,And instead of stones, iron.And I will make peace your overseersAnd righteousness your taskmasters.¹⁸“^aViolence will not be heard again in your land,Nor ^bdevastation or destruction within your borders;But you will call your ^cwalls salvation, and your ^dgates praise.¹⁹“No longer will you have the ^asun for light by day,Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;But you will have ^bYahweh for an everlasting light,And your ^cGod for your ¹glory.²⁰“Your ^asun will no longer set,Nor will your moon wane;For you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light,And the days of your ^bmourning will be finished.²¹“Then all your ^apeople will be righteous;They will ^bpossess the land forever,The branch of ¹My planting,The ^cwork of My hands,That I may show forth My ^dbeautiful glory.²²“The ^asmallest one will become a ¹clan,And the miniscule one a mighty nation.I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time.”

Exaltation of the Afflicted

61The ^aSpirit of Lord Yahweh is upon meBecause Yahweh has anointed meTo ^bbring good news to the ¹^,^cafflicted;He has sent me to ^dbind up the brokenhearted,To ^eproclaim release to captivesAnd ²freedom to prisoners,²To ^aproclaim the favorable year of YahwehAnd the ^bday of vengeance of our God,To ^ccomfort all who mourn,³To ^agrant those who mourn in Zion,Giving them a headdress instead of ashes,The ^boil of rejoicing instead of mourning,The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.So they will be called ¹^,^coaks of righteousness,The planting of Yahweh, that He may show forth His beautiful glory.⁴Then they will ^arebuild the ancient waste places;They will raise up the former desolations;And they will make new the ruined cities,The desolations from generation to generation.⁵^aStrangers will stand and pasture your flocks,And ¹foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.⁶But you will be called the ^apriests of Yahweh;You will be spoken of as ^bministers of our God.You will eat the ^cwealth of nations,And in their glories you will boast.⁷Instead of your ^ashame you will have a ^bdouble portion,And instead of dishonor they will shout for joy over their portion.Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land;^cEverlasting gladness will be theirs.⁸For I, Yahweh, ^alove justice,I hate robbery ¹in the burnt offering;And in truth I will give them their recompenseAnd cut an ^beverlasting covenant with them.⁹Then their seed will be known among the nations,And their offspring in the midst of the peoples.All who see them will recognize themBecause they are the ^aseed whom Yahweh has blessed.¹⁰I will ^arejoice greatly in Yahweh;My soul will rejoice in ^bmy God,For He has ^cclothed me with garments of salvation,He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,As a bridegroom decks himself with a headdress,And ^das a bride adorns herself with her jewels.¹¹For as the ^aearth brings forth its branches,And as a garden causes the things sown in it to branch out,So Lord Yahweh will ^bcause ^crighteousness and praiseTo branch out before all the nations.