Isaiah 56:9-59:21

American Standard Version

⁹ All ye beasts of the field, ^[a]come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. ¹⁰ His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. ¹¹ Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, ^[b]from every quarter. ¹² Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.

57 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and ^[c]merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away ^[d]from the evil to come. ² He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh ^[e]in his uprightness.

³ But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot. ⁴ Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and put out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, ⁵ ye that inflame yourselves ^[f]among the oaks, under every green tree; that slay the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶ Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion; they, they are thy lot; even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering, thou hast offered ^[g]an oblation. Shall I be appeased for these things? ⁷ Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed; thither also wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. ⁸ And behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up thy memorial: for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them: thou lovedst their bed where ^[h]thou sawest it. ⁹ And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto Sheol. ¹⁰ Thou wast wearied with the length of thy way; yet saidst thou not, It is in vain: thou didst find ^[i]a quickening of thy strength; therefore thou wast not ^[j]faint.

¹¹ And of whom hast thou been afraid and in fear, that thou liest, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of long time, and thou fearest me not? ¹² I will declare thy righteousness; and as for thy works, they shall not profit thee. ¹³ When thou criest, let ^[k]them that thou hast gathered deliver thee; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he that taketh refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.

¹⁴ And ^[l]he will say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people. ¹⁵ For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls that I have made. ¹⁷ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid my face and was wroth; and he went on ^[m]backsliding in the way of his heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and ^[n]restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. ¹⁹ I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith Jehovah; and I will heal him. ²⁰ But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. ²¹ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

58 Cry ^[o]aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. ² Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near unto God. ³ Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and ^[p]exact all your labors. ⁴ Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ^[q]ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah? ⁶ Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? ⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward. ⁹ Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am.

If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; ¹⁰ and if thou ^[r]draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday; ¹¹ and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in ^[s]dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. ¹² And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

¹³ If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor ^[t]it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: ¹⁴ then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

59 Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: ² but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear. ³ For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue muttereth wickedness. ⁴ None ^[u]sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. ⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. ⁶ Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their ^[v]paths. ⁸ The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace.

⁹ Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. ¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; ^[w]among them that are lusty we are as dead men. ¹¹ We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. ¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: ¹³ transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴ And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. ¹⁵ Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.

And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. ¹⁶ And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was ^[x]no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it upheld him. ¹⁷ And he put on righteousness as a ^[y]breastplate, and ^[z]a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. ¹⁸ According to their ^[aa]deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the ^[ab]islands he will repay recompense. ¹⁹ So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; ^[ac]for he will come as ^[ad]a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah driveth. ²⁰ And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah. ²¹ And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Jehovah: my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever.