all your children shall be disciples of the LORD,
And great shall be the happiness of your children;
14You shall be established through righteousness.
You shall be safe from oppression,
And shall have no fear;
From ruin, and it shall not come near you.
15eSurely no harm can be done
Without My consent:
Whoever would harm you
Shall fall because of you.
16It is I who created the smith
To fan the charcoal fire
And produce the tools for his work;
So it is I who create
The instruments of havoc.
17No weapon formed against you
Shall succeed,
And every tongue that contends with you at law
You shall defeat.
Such is the lot of the servants of the LORD,
Such their triumph through Me
—declares the LORD.
55 Ho, all who are thirsty,
Come for water,
Even if you have no money;
Come, buy food and eat:
Buy food without money,
Wine and milk without cost.
2Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
Your earnings for what does not satisfy?
Give heed to Me,
And you shall eat choice food
And enjoy the richest viands.
3Incline your ear and come to Me;
Hearken, and you shall be revived.
And I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
The enduring loyalty promised to David.
4a-As I made him a leaderb of peoples,
A prince and commander of peoples,
5So you shall summon a nation you did not know,
And a nation that did not know you
Shall come running to you-a—
For the sake of the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel who has glorified you.
6Seek the LORD while He can be found,
Call to Him while He is near.
7Let the wicked give up his ways,
The sinful man his plans;
Let him turn back to the LORD,
And He will pardon him;
To our God,
For he freely forgives.
8For My plans are not your plans,
Nor are My waysc your waysc
—declares the LORD.
9But as the heavens are high above the earth,
So are My waysc high above your waysc
And My plans above your plans.
10For as the rain or snow drops from heaven
And returns not there,
But soaks the earth
And makes it bring forth vegetation,
Yielding d-seed for sowing and bread for eating,-d
11So is the word that issues from My mouth:
It does not come back to Me unfulfilled,
But performs what I purpose,
Achieves what I sent it to do.
12Yea, you shall leavee in joy and be led home secure.
Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise;
Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.
These shall stand as a testimony to the LORD,
As an everlasting sign that shall not perish.
56 Thus said the LORD:
Observe what is right and do what is just;
For soon My salvation shall come,
And my deliverance be revealed.
2Happy is the man who does this,
The man who holds fast to it:
Who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it,
And stays his hand from doing any evil.
3Let not the foreigner say,
Who has attached himself to the LORD,
“The LORD will keep me apart from His people”;
And let not the eunuch say,
“I am a withered tree.”
4For thus said the LORD:
“As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,
Who have chosen what I desire
And hold fast to My covenant—
5I will give them, in My House
And within My walls,
A monument and a name
Better than sons or daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
Which shall not perish.
6As for the foreigners
Who attach themselves to the LORD,
To minister to Him,
And to love the name of the LORD,
To be His servants—
All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it,
And who hold fast to My covenant—
7I will bring them to My sacred mount
And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
Shall be welcome on My altar;
For My House shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.”
8Thus declares the Lord GOD,
Who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
“I will gather still more to those already gathered.”
9All you wild beasts, come and devour,
All you beasts of the forest!
10Thea watchmen are blind, all of them,
They perceive nothing.
They are all dumb dogs
That cannot bark;
They lie sprawling,b
They love to drowse.
11Moreover, the dogs are greedy;
They never know satiety.
c-As for the shepherds, they know not
What it is to give heed.-c
Everyone has turned his own way,
Every last one seeks his own advantage.
12“Come, I’ll get some wine;
Let us swill liquor.
And tomorrow will be just the same,
Or even much grander!”
57 The righteous man perishes,
And no one considers;
Pious men are taken away,
And no one gives thought
That because of evil
The righteous was taken away.
2Yet he shall come to peace,
a-He shall have rest on his couch-a
Who walked straightforward.
3But as for you, come closer,
You sons of a sorceress,
You offspring of an adulterer and a harlot!b
4With whom do you act so familiarly?
At whom do you open your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Why, you are children of iniquity,
Offspring of treachery—
5You who inflamec yourselves
Among the terebinths,
Under every verdant tree;
Who slaughter children in the wadis,
Amongd the clefts of the rocks.
6e-With suchf are your share and portion,-e
They, they are your allotment;
To them you have poured out libations,
Presented offerings.
Should I relent in the face of this?
7On a high and lofty hill
You have set your couch;
There, too, you have gone up
To perform sacrifices.
8Behind the door and doorpost
You have directed your thoughts;
eAbandoning Me, you have gone up
On the couch you made so wide.
You have made a covenant with them,f
You have loved bedding with them;g
You have chosen lust.h
9You have approached-e the kingi with oil,
You have provided many perfumes.
And you have sent your envoys afar,
Even down to the netherworld.j
10Though wearied by much travel,
You never said, “I give up!”
You found gratification for your lust,
And so you never cared.
11k-Whom do you dread and fear,
That you tell lies?-k
But you gave no thought to Me,
You paid no heed.
It is because I have stood idly by l-so long-l
That you have no fear of Me.
12I hereby pronounce m-judgment upon your deeds:-m
n-Your assorted [idols]-n shall not avail you,
13Shall not save you when you cry out.
They shall all be borne off by the wind,
Snatched away by a breeze.
But those who trust in Me shall inherit the land
And possess My sacred mount.
14[The Lord] says:
Build up, build up a highway!
Clear a road!
Remove all obstacles
From the road of My people!
15For thus said He who high aloft
Forever dwells, whose name is holy:
I dwell on high, in holiness;
Yet with the contrite and the lowly in spirit—
Reviving the spirits of the lowly,
Reviving the hearts of the contrite.
16For I will not always contend,
I will not be angry forever:
Nay, Ie-who make spirits flag,-e
Also create the breath of life.
17For theiro sinful greed I was angry;
I struck them and turned away in My wrath.
p-Though stubborn, they follow the way of their hearts,-p
18I note how they fare and will heal them:
I will guide them and mete out solace to them,
And to the mourners among them
19 heartening,q comfortingr words:
It shall be well,
Well with the far and the near
—said the LORD—
And I will heal them.
20But the wicked are like the troubled sea
Which cannot rest,
Whose waters toss up mire and mud.
21There is no safety
—said my God—
For the wicked.
58 Cry with full throat, without restraint;
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn!
Declare to My people their transgression,
To the House of Jacob their sin.
2To be sure, they seek Me daily,
Eager to learn My ways.
Like a nation that does what is right,
That has not abandoned the laws of its God,
They ask Me for the right way,
They are eager for the nearness of God:
3“Why, when we fasted, did You not see?
When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?”
Because on your fast day
You see to your business
And oppress all your laborers!
4Because you fast in strife and contention,
And you strike with a wicked fist!
Your fasting today is not such
As to make your voice heard on high.
5Is such the fast I desire,
A day for men to starve their bodies?
Is it bowing the head like a bulrush
And lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call that a fast,
A day when the LORD is favorable?
6No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of a-the yoke-a
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
7It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe him,
And not to ignore your own kin.
8Then shall your light burst through like the dawn
And your healing spring up quickly;
Your Vindicator shall march before you,
The Presence of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9Then, when you call, the LORD will answer;
When you cry, He will say: Here I am.
If you banish the yokea from your midst,
b-The menacing hand,-b and evil speech,
10And you offer your compassionc to the hungry
And satisfy the famished creature—
Then shall your light shine in darkness,
And your gloom shall be like noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always;
He will slake your thirst in d-parched places-d
And give strength to your bones.
You shall be like a watered garden,
Like a spring whose waters do not fail.
12Men from your midst shall rebuild ancient ruins,
You shall restore foundations laid long ago.
And you shall be called
“Repairer of fallen walls,
Restorer of lanes for habitation.”
13If you e-refrain from trampling-e the sabbath,
From pursuing your affairs on My holy day;
If you call the sabbath “delight,”
The LORD’s holy day “honored”;
And if you honor it and go not your ways
Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains—
14Then you f-can seek the favor of the LORD.-f
I will set you astride the heights of the earth,
And let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob—
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
59 No, the LORD’s arm is not too short to save,
Or His ear too dull to hear;
2But your iniquities have been a barrier
Between you and your God,
Your sins have made Him turn His face away
And refuse to hear you.
3For your hands are defiled with crimea
And your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips speak falsehood,
Your tongue utters treachery.
4No one sues justly
Or pleads honestly;
They rely on emptiness and speak falsehood,
Conceiving wrong and begetting evil.
5They hatch adder’s eggs
And weave