Isaiah 54-57

Isaiah 54

¹Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

²Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

³For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

⁴Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more.

⁵For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.

⁶For the LORD hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, saith thy God.

⁷For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

⁸In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy redeemer.

⁹For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

¹⁰For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

¹¹O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will set thy stones in fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

¹²And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of pleasant stones.

¹³And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

¹⁴In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.

¹⁵Behold, they may gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee.

¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the fire of coals, and bringeth forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

¹⁷No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness which is of me, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 55

¹Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

²Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

³Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

⁴Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

⁵Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

⁶Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

⁷let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

¹¹so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

¹²For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isaiah 56

¹Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

²Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth fast by it; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

³Neither let the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD will surely separate me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

⁴For thus saith the LORD of the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast by my covenant:

⁵Unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

⁶Also the strangers, that join themselves to the LORD, to minister unto him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast by my covenant;

⁷even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar: for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples.

⁸The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside his own that are gathered.

⁹All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

¹⁰His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.

¹²Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.

Isaiah 57

¹The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

²He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness.

³But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

⁵ye that inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; that slay the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered an oblation. Shall I be appeased for these things?

⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed: thither also wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

⁸And behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up thy memorial: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.

⁹And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.

¹⁰Thou wast wearied with the length of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou didst find a quickening of thy strength; therefore thou wast not faint.

¹¹And of whom hast thou been afraid and in fear, that thou liest, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of long time, and fearest me not?

¹²I will declare thy righteousness; and as for thy works, they shall not profit thee.

¹³When thou criest, let them which thou hast gathered deliver thee; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.

¹⁴And he shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

¹⁵For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

¹⁶For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him, I hid my face and was wroth: and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

¹⁹I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.

²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.