Isaiah 56-61

Isaiah 56

¹Thus said Jehovah: ‘Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness, For near is My salvation to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.'

²O the happiness of a man who doth this, And of a son of man who keepeth hold on it, Keeping the sabbath from polluting it, And keeping his hand from doing any evil.

³Nor speak let a son of the stranger, Who is joined unto Jehovah, saying: ‘Jehovah doth certainly separate me from His people.' Nor say let the eunuch, ‘Lo, I am a tree dried up,'

⁴For thus said Jehovah of the eunuchs, Who do keep My sabbaths, And have fixed on that which I desired, And are keeping hold on My covenant:

⁵I have given to them in My house, And within My walls a station and a name, Better than sons and than daughters, A name age-during I give to him That is not cut off.

⁶And sons of the stranger, who are joined to Jehovah, To serve Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, To be to Him for servants, Every keeper of the sabbath from polluting it, And those keeping hold on My covenant.

⁷I have brought them unto My holy mountain, And caused them to rejoice in My house of prayer, Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices Are for a pleasing thing on Mine altar, For My house, ‘A house of prayer,' Is called for all the peoples.

⁸An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Who is gathering the outcasts of Israel: ‘Again I gather to him -- to his gathered ones.'

⁹Every beast of the field, Come to devour, every beast in the forest.

¹⁰Blind are his watchmen -- all of them, They have not known, All of them are dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, Dozing, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹And the dogs are strong of desire, They have not known sufficiency, And they are shepherds! They have not known understanding, All of them to their own way they did turn, Each to his dishonest gain from his quarter:

¹²‘Come ye, I take wine, And we drink, quaff strong drink, And as this day hath been to-morrow, Great -- exceeding abundant!'

Isaiah 57

¹The righteous hath perished, And there is none laying it to heart, And men of kindness are gathered, Without any considering that from the face of evil Gathered is the righteous one.

²He entereth into peace, they rest on their beds, Each is going straightforward.

³And ye, come near hither, O sons of a sorceress, seed of an adulterer, Even thou dost commit whoredom.

⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom enlarge ye the mouth? Prolong ye the tongue? Are not ye children of transgression? a false seed?

⁵Who are inflamed among oaks, under every green tree, Slaughtering the children in valleys, Under clefts of the rocks.

⁶Among the smooth things of a brook is thy portion, They -- they are thy lot, Also to them thou hast poured out an oblation, Thou hast caused a present to ascend, For these things am I comforted?

⁷On a mountain, high and exalted, Thou hast set thy couch, Also thither thou hast gone up to make a sacrifice.

⁸And behind the door, and the post, Thou hast set up thy memorial, For from Me thou hast removed, and goest up, Thou hast enlarged thy couch, And dost covenant for thyself among them, Thou hast loved their couch, the station thou sawest,

⁹And goest joyfully to the king in ointment, And dost multiply thy perfumes, And sendest thine ambassadors afar off, And humblest thyself unto Sheol.

¹⁰In the greatness of thy way thou hast laboured, Thou hast not said, ‘It is desperate.' The life of thy hand thou hast found, Therefore thou hast not been sick.

¹¹And of whom hast thou been afraid, and fearest, That thou liest, and Me hast not remembered? Thou hast not laid it to thy heart, Am not I silent, even from of old? And Me thou fearest not?

¹²I declare thy righteousness, and thy works, And they do not profit thee.

¹³When thou criest, let thy gatherings deliver thee, And all of them carry away doth wind, Take away doth vanity, And whoso is trusting in Me inheriteth the land, And doth possess My holy mountain.

¹⁴And he hath said, ‘Raise up, raise up, prepare a way, Lift a stumbling-block out of the way of My people.'

¹⁵For thus said the high and exalted One, Inhabiting eternity, and holy is His name: ‘In the high and holy place I dwell, And with the bruised and humble of spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of bruised ones,'

¹⁶For, not to the age do I strive, nor for ever am I wroth, For the spirit from before Me is feeble, And the souls I have made.

¹⁷For the iniquity of his dishonest gain, I have been wroth, and I smite him, Hiding -- and am wroth, And he goeth on turning back in the way of his heart.

¹⁸His ways I have seen, and I heal him, yea, I lead him, And recompense comforts to him and to his mourning ones.

¹⁹Producing the fruit of the lips, ‘Peace, peace,' to the far off, and to the near, And I have healed him, said Jehovah.

²⁰And the wicked are as the driven out sea, For to rest it is not able, And its waters cast out filth and mire.

²¹There is no peace, said my God, to the wicked!

Isaiah 58

¹Call with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet lift up thy voice, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins;

²Seeing -- Me day by day they seek, And the knowledge of My ways they desire, As a nation that righteousness hath done, And the judgment of its God hath not forsaken, They ask of me judgments of righteousness, The drawing near of God they desire:

³‘Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and Thou knowest not.' Lo, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, And all your labours ye exact.

⁴Lo, for strife and debate ye fast, And to smite with the fist of wickedness, Ye fast not as to-day, To sound in the high place your voice.

⁵Like this is the fast that I choose? The day of a man's afflicting his soul? To bow as a reed his head, And sackcloth and ashes spread out? This dost thou call a fast, And a desirable day -- to Jehovah?

⁶Is not this the fast that I chose -- To loose the bands of wickedness, To shake off the burdens of the yoke, And to send out the oppressed free, And every yoke ye draw off?

⁷Is it not to deal to the hungry thy bread, And the mourning poor bring home, That thou seest the naked and cover him, And from thine own flesh hide not thyself?

⁸Then broken up as the dawn is thy light, And thy health in haste springeth up, Gone before thee hath thy righteousness, The honour of Jehovah doth gather thee.

⁹Then thou callest, and Jehovah answereth, Thou criest, and He saith, ‘Behold Me.' If thou turn aside from thy midst the yoke, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity,

¹⁰And dost bring out to the hungry thy soul, And the afflicted soul dost satisfy, Then risen in the darkness hath thy light, And thy thick darkness is as noon.

¹¹And Jehovah doth lead thee continually, And hath satisfied in drought thy soul, And thy bones He armeth, And thou hast been as a watered garden, And as an outlet of waters, whose waters lie not.

¹²And they have built out of thee the wastes of old, The foundations of many generations thou raisest up, And one calleth thee, ‘Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths to rest in.'

¹³If thou dost turn from the sabbath thy foot, Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day, And hast cried to the sabbath, ‘A delight,' To the holy of Jehovah, ‘Honoured,' And hast honoured it, without doing thine own ways, Without finding thine own pleasure, And speaking a word.

¹⁴Then dost thou delight thyself on Jehovah, And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth, And have caused thee to eat the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken!

Isaiah 59

¹Lo, the hand of Jehovah Hath not been shortened from saving, Nor heavy his ear from hearing.

²But your iniquities have been separating Between you and your God, And your sins have hidden The Presence from you -- from hearing.

³For your hands have been polluted with blood, And your fingers with iniquity, Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue perverseness doth mutter.

⁴There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity.

⁵Eggs of a viper they have hatched, And webs of a spider they weave, Whoso is eating their eggs doth die, And the crushed hatcheth a viper.

⁶Their webs become not a garment, Nor do they cover themselves with their works, Their works are works of iniquity, And a deed of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed innocent blood, Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Spoiling and destruction are in their highways.

⁸A way of peace they have not known, And there is no judgment in their paths, Their paths they have made perverse for themselves, No treader in it hath known peace.

⁹Therefore hath judgment been far from us, And righteousness reacheth us not, We wait for light, and lo, darkness, For brightness -- in thick darkness we go,

¹⁰We feel like the blind for the wall, Yea, as without eyes we feel, We have stumbled at noon as at twilight, In desolate places as the dead.

¹¹We make a noise as bears -- all of us, And as doves we coo sorely; We wait for judgment, and there is none, For salvation -- it hath been far from us.

¹²For our transgressions have been multiplied before Thee, And our sins have testified against us, For our transgressions are with us, And our iniquities -- we have known them.

¹³Transgressing, and lying against Jehovah, And removing from after our God, Speaking oppression and apostacy, Conceiving and uttering from the heart Words of falsehood.

¹⁴And removed backward is judgment, And righteousness afar off standeth, For truth hath been feeble in the street, And straightforwardness is not able to enter,

¹⁵And the truth is lacking, And whoso is turning aside from evil, Is making himself a spoil. And Jehovah seeth, and it is evil in His eyes, That there is no judgment.

¹⁶And He seeth that there is no man, And is astonished that there is no intercessor, And His own arm giveth salvation to Him, And His righteousness -- it sustained Him.

¹⁷And He putteth on righteousness as a breastplate, And an helmet of salvation on His head, And He putteth on garments of vengeance for clothing, And is covered, as with an upper-robe, with zeal.

¹⁸According to deeds -- so He repayeth. Fury to His adversaries, their deed to His enemies, To the isles their deed He repayeth.

¹⁹And they fear from the west the name of Jehovah, And from the rising of the sun -- His honour, When come in as a flood doth an adversary, The Spirit of Jehovah hath raised an ensign against him.

²⁰And come to Zion hath a redeemer, Even to captives of transgression in Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah.

²¹And I -- this is My covenant with them, said Jehovah, My Spirit that is on thee, And My words that I have put in thy mouth, Depart not from thy mouth, And from the mouth of thy seed, And from the mouth of thy seed's seed, said Jehovah, From henceforth unto the age!

Isaiah 60

¹Arise, be bright, for come hath thy light, And the honour of Jehovah hath risen on thee.

²For, lo, the darkness doth cover the earth, And thick darkness the peoples, And on thee rise doth Jehovah, And His honour on thee is seen.

³And come have nations to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising.

⁴Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, they have come to thee, Thy sons from afar do come, And thy daughters on the side are supported.

⁵Then thou seest, and hast become bright, And thine heart hath been afraid and enlarged, For turn unto thee doth the multitude of the sea, The forces of nations do come to thee.

⁶A company of camels covereth thee, Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, All of them from Sheba do come, Gold and frankincense they bear, And of the praises of Jehovah they proclaim the tidings.

⁷All the flock of Kedar are gathered to thee, The rams of Nebaioth do serve thee, They ascend for acceptance Mine altar, And the house of My beauty I beautify.

⁸Who are these -- as a thick cloud they fly, And as doves unto their windows?

⁹Surely for Me isles do wait, And ships of Tarshish first, To bring thy sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, To the name of Jehovah thy God, And to the Holy One of Israel, Because He hath beautified thee.

¹⁰And sons of a stranger have built thy walls, And their kings do serve thee, For in My wrath I have smitten thee, And in My good pleasure I have pitied thee.

¹¹And opened have thy gates continually, By day and by night they are not shut, To bring unto thee the force of nations, Even their kings are led.

¹²For the nation and the kingdom that do not serve thee perish, Yea, the nations are utterly wasted.

¹³The honour of Lebanon unto thee doth come, Fir, pine, and box together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary, And the place of My feet I make honourable.

¹⁴And come unto thee, bowing down, Have sons of those afflicting thee, And bowed themselves to the soles of thy feet Have all despising thee, And they have cried to thee: ‘City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.'

¹⁵Instead of thy being forsaken and hated, And none passing through, I have made thee for an excellency age-during, A joy of generation and generation.

¹⁶And thou hast sucked the milk of nations, Yea, the breast of kings thou suckest, And thou hast known that I, Jehovah, Thy Saviour, and Thy Redeemer, Am the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of the brass I bring in gold, And instead of the iron I bring in silver, And instead of the wood brass, And instead of the stone iron, And I have made thy inspection peace, And thy exactors righteousness.

¹⁸Violence is not heard any more in thy land, Spoiling and destruction in thy borders, And thou hast called ‘Salvation' thy walls, And thy gates, ‘Praise.'

¹⁹To thee no more is the sun for a light by day, And for brightness the moon giveth not light to thee, And Jehovah hath become to thee A light age-during, and thy God thy beauty.

²⁰Thy sun goeth no more in, And thy moon is not removed, For Jehovah becometh to thee a light age-during. And the days of thy mourning have been completed.

²¹And thy people are all of them righteous, To the age they possess the earth, A branch of My planting, A work of My hands, to be beautified.

²²The little one doth become a chief, And the small one a mighty nation, I, Jehovah, in its own time do hasten it!

Isaiah 61

¹The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on me, Because Jehovah did anoint me To proclaim tidings to the humble, He sent me to bind the broken of heart, To proclaim to captives liberty, And to bound ones an opening of bands.

²To proclaim the year of the good pleasure of Jehovah, And the day of vengeance of our God, To comfort all mourners.

³To appoint to mourners in Zion, To give to them beauty instead of ashes, The oil of joy instead of mourning, A covering of praise for a spirit of weakness, And He is calling to them, ‘Trees of righteousness, The planting of Jehovah -- to be beautified.'

⁴And they have built the wastes of old, The desolations of the ancients they raise up, And they have renewed waste cities, The desolations of generation and generation.

⁵And strangers have stood and fed your flock, Sons of a foreigner are your husbandmen, And your vine-dressers.

⁶And ye are called ‘Priests of Jehovah,' ‘Ministers of our God,' is said of you, The strength of nations ye consume, And in their honour ye do boast yourselves.

⁷Instead of your shame and confusion, A second time they sing of their portion, Therefore in their land A second time do they take possession, Joy age-during is for them.

⁸For I am Jehovah, loving judgment, Hating plunder for a burnt-offering, And I have given their wage in truth, And a covenant age-during I make for them.

⁹And known among nations hath been their seed, And their offspring in the midst of the peoples, All their beholders acknowledge them, For they are a seed Jehovah hath blessed.

¹⁰I greatly rejoice in Jehovah, Joy doth my soul in my God, For He clothed me with garments of salvation, With a robe of righteousness covereth Me, As a bridegroom prepareth ornaments, And as a bride putteth on her jewels.

¹¹For, as the earth bringeth forth her shoots, And as a garden causeth its sown things to shoot up, So the Lord Jehovah causeth righteousness and praise To shoot up before all the nations!