Isaiah 56-58

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

56 Thus says the Lord:
    Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come
    and my deliverance be revealed.^(A)

⁹ All you wild animals,
    all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!^(I)
10 Israel’s^[b] sentinels are blind;
    they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs
    that cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
    loving to slumber.^(J)
11 The dogs have a mighty appetite;
    they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
    they have all turned to their own way,
    to their own gain, one and all.
¹² “Come,” they say, “let us^[c] get wine;
    let us fill ourselves with strong drink.
And tomorrow will be like today,
    great beyond measure.”

57 The righteous perish,
    and no one considers why;
the devout are taken away,
    while no one understands
    that it is due to evil that the righteous are taken away.^(K)
2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace
    and rest on their couches.^(L)
3 But as for you, come here,
    you children of a sorceress,
    you offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.^[d](M)
4 Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
    the offspring of deceit—^(N)
5 you who burn with lust among the oaks,
    under every green tree;
you who slaughter your children in the valleys,
    under the clefts of the rocks?^(O)
6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;
    it is they who are your lot;
to them you have poured out a drink offering;
    you have brought a grain offering.
    Should these acts cause me to relent?^(P)
7 Upon a high and lofty mountain
    you have set your bed,
    and there you went up to offer sacrifice.^(Q)
8 Behind the door and the doorpost
    you have set up your symbol,
for in deserting me^[e] you have uncovered your bed;
    you have gone up to it;
    you have made it wide;
and you have made a bargain for yourself with them;
    you have loved their bed;
    you have gazed on their nakedness.^[f](R)
9 You journeyed to Molech^[g] with oil
    and multiplied your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far away
    and sent them down to Sheol.^(S)
10 You grew weary from your many wanderings,
    but you did not say, “It is no use!”
You found your desire rekindled,
    and so you did not weaken.^(T)

¹⁴ It shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way;
    remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”^(W)
15 For thus says the high and lofty one
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
    and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.^(X)
16 For I will not continually accuse,
    nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirits would grow faint before me,
    even the souls that I have made.^(Y)
17 Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry;
    I struck them; I hid and was angry,
    but they kept turning back to their own ways.^(Z)
18 I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
    I will lead them and repay them with comfort,
¹⁹     creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.^[i]
Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord,
    and I will heal them.^(AA)
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea
    that cannot keep still;
    its waters toss up mire and mud.^(AB)
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.^(AC)

58 Shout out; do not hold back!
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.^(AD)
2 Yet day after day they seek me
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they want God on their side.^[j](AE)
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
    and oppress all your workers.^(AF)
4 You fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
    will not make your voice heard on high.^(AG)
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?^(AH)