Isaiah

56 ¹Thus says the LORD,

The Lord

“Guard justice
and do righteousness.

For soon My salvation will come,
and My righteousness will be revealed.

²Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of a human who holds it fast,

who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Isaiah

³Let not the foreigner[1] who has joined himself to the LORD say,

Foreigner

“Surely the LORD will exclude me from His people.”

Isaiah

And let not the eunuch say,

Eunuch

“Behold, I am a dry tree.’”

Isaiah

⁴For thus says the LORD:

The Lord

“To the eunuchs who guard My Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please Me
and hold fast to My covenant,

⁵I will give to them in My House and within My walls a hand and a name,
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, who serve Him,
who love the name of the LORD, and who are His servants,

everyone who keeps the Sabbath,
and does not profane it,
and holds fast to My covenant,

⁷these I will bring to My Holy Mountain
and make them rejoice in My House of Prayer.

Their burnt offerings
and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar,

for My House will be called
‘A House of Prayer’ for all peoples.”

Isaiah

⁸The Lord, the LORD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares:

The Lord

“I will gather others to it
besides those already gathered.”

Isaiah

⁹All beasts of the field, come to eat,
all you beasts in the forest.

¹⁰His watchmen are all of them blind;
they do not know,

they are all mute dogs,
they cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹And the dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough,

and they are shepherds that have no understanding;
they all have turned to their own way,

each to his own gain,
one and all.

Wicked leaders

¹²“Come, let me take wine,
and let us fill ourselves with strong drink.

And tomorrow will be like today,
or even better.”

Isaiah

57 ¹The righteous perish, but no one takes it to heart;
devout people are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous man is taken away from evil.

²He will enter into peace;
they will rest on their beds, he who walks with uprightness.

The Lord

³But you, draw near, children of the sorceress,
offspring of the adulterer and the prostitute.

⁴Against whom are you making sport?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth and put out your tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,
the offspring of lies?

⁵You burn with lust among the oaks,
under every leafy tree,

who sacrifice your children in the wadis,
under the clefts of the rocks.

⁶Your portion is in sections of the wadi;
they, they are your destiny.

Also, to them you have poured out a drink offering;
you have brought a cereal offering.

Will I be appeased for these things?

⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed,
and there you went up to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the door post you have set up your memorial. Far removed from Me you have uncovered yourself, and you have gone up and made wide your bed. And you have made a covenant for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have seen their nakedness.

⁹You journeyed to Molech with oil
and multiplied your perfumes;

you sent your envoys far away
and sent them down, even to Sheol.

¹⁰You were wearied with the greatness of your way;
you did not say,

The wicked

“It is hopeless.”

The Lord

You found renewal for your power;
therefore, you did not faint.

¹¹Whom did you dread
and fear, so that you lied

and did not remember Me,
nor did you lay it to heart?

Have I not held my peace for a long time,
and you did not fear Me?

¹²I will declare your righteousness
and your works,

but they will not profit you.
When you cry out, let your group of idols[2] deliver you;

¹³the wind will lift all of them,
a breath will take them away.