Chapter 54

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

1  “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
    break forth into singing and cry aloud,
    you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
    than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.
2  “Enlarge the place of your tent,
    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
    and strengthen your stakes.
3  For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and will people the desolate cities.

4  Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5  For your Maker is your husband,
    the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    the God of the whole earth he is called.
6  For the LORD has called you
    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
    says your God.
7  For a brief moment I deserted you,
    but with great compassion I will gather you.
8  In overflowing anger for a moment
    I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the LORD, your Redeemer.

9  “This is like the days of Noah ^{1 54:9 Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah} to me:
    as I swore that the waters of Noah
    should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
    and will not rebuke you.
10  For the mountains may depart
    and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
    says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

11  “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
    behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
    and lay your foundations with sapphires. ^{2 54:11 Or lapis lazuli}
12  I will make your pinnacles of agate, ^{3 54:12 Or jasper, or ruby}
    your gates of carbuncles, ^{4 54:12 Or crystal}
    and all your wall of precious stones.
13  All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
    and great shall be the peace of your children.
14  In righteousness you shall be established;
    you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
    and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15  If anyone stirs up strife,
    it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
    shall fall because of you.
16  Behold, I have created the smith
    who blows the fire of coals
    and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17      no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
    and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
    and their vindication ^{5 54:17 Or righteousness} from me, declares the LORD.”

Chapter 55

The Compassion of the LORD

1  “Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
2  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
3  Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.
4  Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    a leader and commander for the peoples.
5  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
    and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you.

6  Seek the LORD while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
7  let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares 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  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12  For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Chapter 56

Salvation for Foreigners

1  Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my righteousness be revealed.
2  Blessed is the man who does this,
    and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3  Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,
    “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4  For thus says the LORD:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
5  I will give in my house and within my walls
    a monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.

6  And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
    and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
7  these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
8  The Lord God,
    who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”

Israel's Irresponsible Leaders

9  All you beasts of the field, come to devour—
    all you beasts in the forest.
10  His watchmen are blind;
    they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs;
    they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
    loving to slumber.
11  The dogs have a mighty appetite;
    they never have enough.
But they are shepherds who have no understanding;
    they have all turned to their own way,
    each to his own gain, one and all.
12  “Come,” they say, “let me get wine;
    let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow will be like this day,
    great beyond measure.”

Chapter 57

Israel's Futile Idolatry

1  The righteous man perishes,
    and no one lays it to heart;
devout men are taken away,
    while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
2      he enters into peace;
they rest in their beds
    who walk in their uprightness.
3  But you, draw near,
    sons of the sorceress,
    offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
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,
5  you who burn with lust among the oaks, ^{6 57:5 Or among the terebinths}
    under every green tree,
who slaughter your children in the valleys,
    under the clefts of the rocks?
6  Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;
    they, they, are your lot;
to them you have poured out a drink offering,
    you have brought a grain offering.
    Shall I relent for these things?
7  On a high and lofty mountain
    you have set your bed,
    and there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8  Behind the door and the doorpost
    you have set up your memorial;
for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,
    you have gone up to it,
    you have made it wide;
and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,
    you have loved their bed,
    you have looked on nakedness. ^{7 57:8 Or on a monument (see 56:5); Hebrew on a hand}
9  You journeyed to the king with oil
    and multiplied your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far off,
    and sent down even to Sheol.
10  You were wearied with the length of your way,
    but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;
you found new life for your strength,
    and so you were not faint. ^{8 57:10 Hebrew and so you were not sick}

11  Whom did you dread and fear,
    so that you lied,
and did not remember me,
    did not lay it to heart?
Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,
    and you do not fear me?
12  I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
    but they will not profit you.
13  When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
    The wind will carry them all off,
    a breath will take them away.
But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land
    and shall inherit my holy mountain.

Comfort for the Contrite

14  And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people's way.”
15  For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16  For I will not contend forever,
    nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
    and the breath of life that I made.
17  Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
    I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
    but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18  I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
    I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19      creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD,
    “and I will heal him.
20  But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
    for it cannot be quiet,
    and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
21  There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Chapter 58

True and False Fasting

1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
2  Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
3  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
    Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, ^{9 58:3 Or pursue your own business}
    and oppress all your workers.
4  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5  Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the LORD?

6  Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed ^{10 58:6 Or bruised} go free,
    and to break every yoke?
7  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8  Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
    the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
    the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10  if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday.
11  And the LORD will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.
12  And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to dwell in.

13  If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure ^{11 58:13 Or business} on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    or seeking your own pleasure, ^{12 58:13 Or pursuing your own business} or talking idly; ^{13 58:13 Hebrew or speaking a word}
14  then you shall take delight in the LORD,
    and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; ^{14 58:14 Or of the land}
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Chapter 59

Evil and Oppression

1  Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2  but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.
3  For your hands are defiled with blood
    and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
    your tongue mutters wickedness.
4  No one enters suit justly;
    no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
    they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5  They hatch adders' eggs;
    they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
    and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6  Their webs will not serve as clothing;
    men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
    and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7  Their feet run to evil,
    and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8  The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
    no one who treads on them knows peace.

9  Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10  We grope for the wall like the blind;
    we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11  We all growl like bears;
    we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
12  For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
13  transgressing, and denying the LORD,
    and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

14  Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
15  Truth is lacking,
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him ^{15 59:15 Hebrew and it was evil in his eyes}
    that there was no justice.
16  He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
17  He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
18  According to their deeds, so will he repay,
    wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
    to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19  So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream, ^{16 59:19 Hebrew a narrow river}
    which the wind of the LORD drives.

20  “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

Chapter 60

The Future Glory of Israel

1  Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
    and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
    and his glory will be seen upon you.
3  And nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your rising.

4  Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
    they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
    and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5  Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and exult, ^{17 60:5 Hebrew your heart shall tremble and grow wide}
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6  A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
    all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
    and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
7  All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
    the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
    and I will beautify my beautiful house.

8  Who are these that fly like a cloud,
    and like doves to their windows?
9  For the coastlands shall hope for me,
    the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from afar,
    their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the LORD your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because he has made you beautiful.

10  Foreigners shall build up your walls,
    and their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I struck you,
    but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11  Your gates shall be open continually;
    day and night they shall not be shut,
that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
    with their kings led in procession.
12  For the nation and kingdom
    that will not serve you shall perish;
    those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
13  The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
    the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
    and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14  The sons of those who afflicted you
    shall come bending low to you,
and all who despised you
    shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of the LORD,
    the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15  Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic forever,
    a joy from age to age.
16  You shall suck the milk of nations;
    you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17  Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
    and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
    instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
    and your taskmasters righteousness.
18  Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
    devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
    and your gates Praise.

19  The sun shall be no more
    your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
    give you light; ^{18 60:19 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Targum add by night}
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory. ^{19 60:19 Or your beauty}
20  Your sun shall no more go down,
    nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of mourning shall be ended.
21  Your people shall all be righteous;
    they shall possess the land forever,
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
    that I might be glorified. ^{20 60:21 Or that I might display my beauty}
22  The least one shall become a clan,
    and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am the LORD;
    in its time I will hasten it.