55.12–13 Even nature itself will be transformed in a reversal of former judgments (5.6;7.23–25) and join in the rejoicing at Israel’s return to its land (41.18–19; 51.3).
ISAIAH 56
The Covenant Extended to All Who Obey
1Thus says the LORD:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
2Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and refrains from doing any evil.
3Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely separate me from his people”
and do not let the eunuch say,
“I am just a dry tree.”
4For thus says the LORD:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
5I 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.
6And the foreigners who join 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,
and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—
7these 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.
8Thus says the Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.a
The Corruption of Israel’s Rulers
9All you wild animals,
all you wild animals in the forest, come to devour!
10Israel’sb sentinels are blind,
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs
that cannot bark;
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.
11The dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
to their own gain, one and all.
12“Come,” they say, “let usc get wine;
let us fill ourselves with strong drink.
And tomorrow will be like today,
great beyond measure.”
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a Heb besides his gathered ones
b Heb His
c Q Ms Syr Vg Tg: MT me
56.1–66.24 Admonitions to Judah. These chapters, often referred to as Third Isaiah, contain a miscellaneous collection of oracles that seem to presuppose a setting in Palestine after the return of the exiles to Judah after 539 BCE. See Introduction.
56.1–8 If they do what is right, even those formerly excluded from the religious community will share in the salvation God is about to reveal.
56.2 Happy is the mortal. Cf. Pss 1.1;106.3; Mt 5.3–12. Observance of the sabbath became a major concern in the exilic and postexilic period (58.13; Neh 13.15–22; Jer 17.21–27; Ezek 20.12–38).
56.3 Some biblical legislation might incline the foreigner and eunuch to consider themselves excluded from God’s blessings (Deut 23.1–3; cf. Lev 21.18–20), but it is not to be so in the coming salvation.
56.5 Monument, a stele or plaque set up to preserve one’s memory in the absence of children (2 Sam 18.18).
56.6–7 God will accept the offerings of faithful proselytes. My holy mountain, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. House of prayer for all peoples. Quoted in Mk 11.17.
56.8 Others, proselytes (cf. Jn 10.16).
56.9–12 Israel’s leaders are failing to discharge their responsibilities.
56.9 Wild animals, foreign nations (5.26–30; Jer 4.7; 5.6).
56.10 Sentinels, prophets (Ezek 3.16–21; 33.1–9) or leaders who mislead for lack of knowledge (5.11–13;9.14–16). Silent dogs, a disparaging reference to the leaders or prophets as useless (cf. 9.14; Job 30.1).
56.11 Mighty appetite. The leaders are only good for devouring what they are supposed to guard (3.12–15; cf. Mic 3.5). Shepherds, rulers (Ezek 34.1–16; Zech 11.4–17).
56.12 Cf. 5.11–12.
ISAIAH 57
Israel’s Futile Idolatry
1The righteous perish,
and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous are taken away from calamity,
2and they enter into peace;
those who walk uprightly
will rest on their couches.
3But as for you, come here,
you children of a sorceress,
you offspring of an adulterer and a whore.a
4Whom 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—
5you that burn with lust among the oaks,
under every green tree;
you that slaughter your children in the valleys,
under the clefts of the rocks?
6Among 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 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 doorpost
you have set up your symbol;
for, in deserting me,b
you have uncovered your bed,
you have gone up to it, you have made it wide;
and you have made a bargain for yourself with them,
you have loved their bed,
you have gazed on their nakedness.c
9You journeyed to Molechd with oil,
and multiplied your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far away,
and sent down even to Sheol.
10You grew weary from your many wanderings,
but you did not say, “It is useless.”
You found your desire rekindled,
and so you did not weaken.
11Whom did you dread and fear
so that you lied,
and did not remember me
or give me a thought?
Have I not kept silent and closed my eyes,e
and so you do not fear me?
12I will concede your righteousness and your works,
but they will not help you.
13When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
The wind will carry them off,
a breath will take them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me shall possess the land
and inherit my holy mountain.
A Promise of Help and Healing
14It shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
15For thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16For I will not continually accuse,
nor wi
ll I always be angry;
for then the spirits would grow faint before me,
even the souls that I have made.
17Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry;
I struck them, I hid and was angry;
but they kept turning back to their own ways.
18I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
I will lead them and repay them with comfort,
creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.f
19Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD;
and I will heal them.
20But the wicked are like the tossing sea
that cannot keep still;
its waters toss up mire and mud.
21There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
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a Heb an adulterer and she plays the whore
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Or their phallus; Heb the hand
d Or the king
e Gk Vg: Heb silent even for a long time
f Meaning of Heb uncertain
57.1–13 Pagan religious practices still threaten the struggling postexilic community in Judah.
57.1–2 The righteous die without regard, but their evil detractors are unaware that death brings the righteous peace and rest from the greater evil to come. Couches, a reference to proper burial in a tomb.
57.3–4 You. Those who mock the righteous are addressed as illegitimate off-spring of the foreign gods they worship (Hos 2.4–5).
57.5–8 The apostates continue the old fertility cults and their sexually immoral practices. Among the oaks, under every green tree, upon a…lofty mountain, where these cultic practices take place (Deut 12.2; Jer 2.20;3.6; Ezek 6.13). Because they practiced child sacrifice (slaughter your children) in the valleys, their lot would be to end up in the same place (cf. Jer 19.4–13).
57.9 Molech, the deity to whom child sacrifices were offered. Sheol, the underworld personified as a deity.
57.10 Despite the futility of these practices, Israel persists in them (Jer 2.23–25).
57.11–13 The object of their fear and dread was not God (8.13), because he kept silent, but they will learn that idols are useless; only God can save (42.14–17).
57.14–21 The prophet assures the penitent of God’s presence and peace.
57.14 Cf. 40.3–4.
57.15 The transcendent God will dwell with the contrite and humble (6.1–7).
57.16–18 God’s anger, though justified, will not last forever.
57.17 Though God struck them, the Israelites kept turning back in rebellion (cf. 1.5–6).
57.18 Despite the people’s past, God will heal them. Mourners, the repentant. Fruit of the lips, perhaps praise for God’s deliverance (see Hos 14.2).
57.19 The far and the near, those still in exile and those in Judah.
57.20–21 This consolation is not for the unrepentant wicked.
ISAIAH 58
False and True Worship
1Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
3“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
4Look, you fast only to quarrel
and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
5Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
6Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicatora shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12Your 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 live in.
13If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;b
14then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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a Or vindication
b Heb or speaking words
58.1–14 The prophet here contrasts mere religious ritual with the service God desires.
58.1–2 Israel must be made aware of its sin (Mic 3.8); its delight in ritual does not make it the righteous nation it imagines (1.10–17). Draw near to God. Cf. 29.13.
58.3–4 Fasting that serves self-interest and contributes to the oppression of the weak does not move God to respond favorably.
58.5 Wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes were rituals of mourning often accompanying a fast (Joel 1.8, 13–14; Jon 3.5–6).
58.6–14 Three parallel formulations (vv. 6–9a, 9b–12, 13–14) stating what God expects of his people, if they want him to hear them.
58.6–9a The fast that God wants involves saving other people from oppression and satisfying their needs (cf. Mt 25.31–46).
58.7 Cf. Job 31.16–23.
58.8 Light, a metaphor for deliverance and for salvation (42.6–7). Rear guard. See 52.12.
58.9b–12 Obedience will result in the restoration of Israel’s ancient ruins.
58.9b Pointing of the finger probably involves a legal accusation (cf. Prov 6.13).
58.10–11 Satisfy…needs. God’s treatment of his worshipers corresponds to their treatment of fellow humans in need (cf. Mt 7.2).
58.13 Observance of the sabbath is a significant part in this true worship of God.
58.14 Ride upon the heights of the earth, an idiom for triumph or success (Deut 32.13; cf. Ps 18.33; Hab 3.19).
&nb
sp; ISAIAH 59
Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished
1See, the LORD’s hand is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4No one brings suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.
5They hatch adders’ eggs,
and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.
6Their webs cannot serve as clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths.
Their roads they have made crooked;
no one who walks in them knows peace.
9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10We grope like the blind along a wall,
groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorousa as though we were dead.
11We all growl like bears;
like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13transgressing, and denying the LORD,
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 268
