Isaiah 56-58

Common English Bible

56 The Lord says:
    Act justly and do what is righteous,
    because my salvation is coming soon,
    and my righteousness will be revealed.
² Happy is the one who does this,
    the person who holds it fast,
    who keeps the Sabbath, not making it impure,
    and avoids doing any evil.

⁹ All you beasts of the field,
    come and eat, all you beasts of the forest!
¹⁰ The lookouts are blind;
    they all lack sense.
They are all mute dogs that can’t bark,
    dreamers, loungers, loving to sleep.
¹¹ But the dogs have monstrous appetites.
    They never have enough.
    They are shepherds who don’t understand.
All of them have turned to their own ways,
    every last one greedy for profit.
¹² “Come! I’ll get some wine!
    Let’s drink beer!
    Tomorrow will be like today, or even much better.”

³ Come here, you children of sorcery,
    offspring of adultery and prostitution!
⁴ Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Aren’t you children of rebellion, offspring of lies,
⁵     who console yourselves with idols under every green tree,
    who slaughter children in the valleys, under the rocky cliffs?
⁶ You belong with the smooth talkers^[d] in the valley;
    they, they are your lot.
For them you poured out a drink offering,
    and presented a grain offering.
    Should I condone these things?
⁷ On a very high mountain you made your bed.
    You went up there to offer a sacrifice.
⁸ Behind the door and the doorpost
    you placed your symbols.
You abandoned me and lay down,
    making room in your bed
    and making deals for yourself with them.^[e]
You loved their bed;
    you saw their nakedness.
⁹ You went down to Molech^[f] with oil,
    and you slathered on your ointments;
    you sent your messengers far away,
    sent them down to the underworld.^[g]
10 Worn out by all your efforts,
    yet you wouldn’t say, “This is useless.”
You found new strength;
    therefore, you weren’t tired.
¹¹ Whom did you dread and fear so that you lied,
    didn’t remember me or give me a thought?
Isn’t it because I was silent and closed my eyes
    that you stopped fearing me?
¹² I will bring evidence about your righteousness and your actions;
    they won’t help you.
¹³ When you cry out,
    let those things you’ve gathered save you!
The wind will lift them all;
    one breath will take them away.
but those taking refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

¹⁴ It will be said: “Survey, survey; build a road!
    Remove barriers from my people’s road!”
¹⁵ The one who is high and lifted up,
    who lives forever, whose name is holy, says:
I live on high, in holiness,
    and also with the crushed^[h] and the lowly,
    reviving the spirit of the lowly,
    reviving the heart of those who have been crushed.^[i]
16 I won’t always accuse,
    nor will I be enraged forever.
    It is my own doing that their spirit is exhausted—
    I gave them breath!
¹⁷ I was enraged about their illegal profits;
    I struck them; in rage I withdrew from them.
Yet they went on wandering wherever they wanted.
¹⁸     I have seen their ways, but I will heal them.
    I will guide them,
        and reward them with comfort.
And for those who mourn,
¹⁹     I will create reason for praise:^[j]
    utter prosperity to those far and near,
    and I will heal them, says the Lord.
²⁰ But the wicked are like the churning sea that can’t keep still.
    They churn up from their waters muck and mud.
²¹     There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

58 Shout loudly; don’t hold back;
    raise your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their crime,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
² They seek me day after day,
    desiring knowledge of my ways
    like a nation that acted righteously,
    that didn’t abandon their God.
They ask me for righteous judgments,
    wanting to be close to God.
³ “Why do we fast and you don’t see;
    why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?”
Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want,
    and oppress all your workers.
⁴ You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast;
    you hit each other violently with your fists.
You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today
    if you want to make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I choose,
    a day of self-affliction,
    of bending one’s head like a reed
    and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes?
    Is this what you call a fast,
        a day acceptable to the Lord?