Holy Bible
Isaiah
Isaiah 46
Gods of Babylon
1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden.[90]
The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.
2They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.
3“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
4Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
5“With whom will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
6Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.
7They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
From that spot it cannot move.
Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save them from their troubles.
8“Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
9Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
11From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.
12Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness.
13I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
Isaiah 47
The Fall of Babylon
1“Go down, sit in the dust,
Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians.[91]
No more will you be called tender or delicate.
2Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil.
Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.
3Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.”
4Our Redeemer—the LORD Almighty is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.
5“Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance;
I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy.
Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.
7You said, ‘I am forever—the eternal queen!’
But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
8“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’
9Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
10You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
11Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away.
A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
12“Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
13All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!
Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
14Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame.
These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.
15That is all they are to you—these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood.
All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.
Isaiah 48
Stubborn Israel
1“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness—
2you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel—the LORD Almighty is his name:
3I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
4For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze.
5Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say,
‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’
6You have heard these things; look at them all.
Will you not admit them?
“From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.
7They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say,
‘Yes, I knew of them.’
8You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open.
Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.
9For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.
10See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.
Israel Freed
12“Listen to me, Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am he;
I am the first and I am the last.
13My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
14“Come together, all of you, and listen:
Which of the idols has foretold these things?
The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians.[92]
15I, even I, have spoken;
yes, I have called him.
I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.
16“Come near me and listen to this:
“From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”
And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.
17This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
18If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.
19Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”
20Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians!
Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it.
Send it out to the ends of the earth;
say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
21They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
22“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
Isaiah 49
The Servant of the LORD
1Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
3He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
5And now the LORD says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am[93] honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—
6he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7This is what the LORD says—the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Restoration of Israel
8This is what the LORD says:
“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.
10They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
11I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.
12See, they will come from afar—some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.[94]”
13Shout for joy, you heavens;
rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!
For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
15“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
17Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.
18Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you.
As surely as I live,” declares the LORD,
“you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.
19“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.
20The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’
21Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these?
I was bereaved and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.
Who brought these up?
I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’ ”
22This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.
23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
24Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce[95]?
25But this is what the LORD says:
“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.
Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Isaiah 50
Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience
1This is what the LORD says:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2When I came, why was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Was my arm too short to deliver you?
Do I lack the strength to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,
I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
3I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth its covering.”
4The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
7Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
8He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
10Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on their God.
11But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.
Isaiah 51
Everlasting Salvation for Zion
1“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
3The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation:
Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
5My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
7“Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart:
Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults.
8For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
9Awake, awake, arm of the LORD, clothe yourself with strength!
Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
10Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
11Those the LORD has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12“I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,
13that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
15For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD Almighty is his name.
16I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath
17Awake, awake!
Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.
18Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
19These double calamities have come upon you—who can comfort you?—ruin and destruction, famine and sword—who can[96] console you?
20Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the LORD, with the rebuke of your God.
21Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
22This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends his people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
23I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you,
‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’
And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”
Isaiah 52
1Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.
2Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
3For this is what the LORD says:
“You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”
4For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
5“And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,[97]” declares the LORD.
“And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.
6Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.”
7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.
9Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
11Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD’s house.
12But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
The Suffering and Glory of the Servant
13See, my servant will act wisely[98]; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14Just as there were many who were appalled at him[99]—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15so he will sprinkle many nations,[100] and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Isaiah 53
1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8By oppression[101] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.[102]
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes[103] his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11After he has suffered, he will see the light of life[104] and be satisfied[105]; by his knowledge[106] my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[107] and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[108] because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 54
The Future Glory of Zion
1“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.
2“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
4“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
6The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God.
7“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
9“To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
10Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
11“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,[109] your foundations with lapis lazuli.
12I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
13All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.
14In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
15If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
17no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55
Invitation to the Thirsty
1“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
4See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
Isaiah 56
Salvation for Others
1This is what the LORD says:
“Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2Blessed is the one who does this—the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”
3Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
4For this is what the LORD says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—
5to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
6And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—
7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
8The Sovereign LORD declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”
God’s Accusation Against the Wicked
9Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
10Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
11They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.
12“Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine!
Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”
Isaiah 57
1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
2Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
3“But you—come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
4Who are you mocking?
At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars?
5You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
6The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
indeed, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings.
In view of all this, should I relent?
7You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
8Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.
9You went to Molek[110] with olive oil and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors[111] far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead!
10You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.
11“Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have not been true to me, and have neither remembered me nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?
12I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
13When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”
Comfort for the Contrite
14And it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”
15For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me—the very people I have created.
17I was enraged by their sinful greed;
I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways.
18I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,
19creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”
20But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.
21“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Isaiah 58
True Fasting
1“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
3‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[112] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.