Isaiah 56-58

New Catholic Bible

¹ Thus says the Lord:
    Maintain justice
    and do what is right.
For my salvation is close at hand,
    and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
² Happy is the man who does this,
    the one who holds fast to my instructions,
who observes the Sabbath without profaning it
    and refrains from every evil deed.
³ Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
    “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.”
Permit no eunuch^[b] to believe,
    “I am nothing but a dried-up tree.”
⁴ For thus says the Lord:
    To the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths,
who choose to do my will
    and hold fast to my covenant,
⁵ I 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 will never be effaced.
⁶ The foreigners who pledge their allegiance to the Lord,
    who minister to him,
who love the name of the Lord
    and become his servants,
who keep the Sabbath and do not profane
    and who hold fast to my covenant:
⁷ all these 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 will be called
    a house of prayer for all peoples.
⁸ Thus says the Lord God
    who gathers the exiles of Israel:
There are others whom I will call forth
    besides those who have already been gathered.

⁹ All you wild beasts of the fields and of the forest,
    come forth and gorge yourselves.
¹⁰ Israel’s watchmen are all blind;
    they perceive absolutely nothing.
They are all dumb watchdogs
    that are unable to bark,
dreaming as they lie there,
    loving the opportunity to sleep.
¹¹ The dogs have a ravenous appetite;
    meanwhile the shepherds are never satisfied.
They comprehend nothing;
    each of them goes his own way,
    all of them interested solely in their own gain.
¹² “Come,” says each one, “I will fetch some wine,
    and we will fill ourselves with strong drink.
And tomorrow will be like today,
    or perhaps even better.”

¹ Those who are righteous perish,
    but no one takes it to heart.
Those who are devout are taken away,
    and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
    to be spared from evil.
² Those who have walked uprightly
    enter into peace;
    they find rest as they lie in death.

³ But as for you, come here,
    you children of a sorceress,
    you offspring of an adulterer and a harlot!
⁴ Whom are you mocking?
    At whom do you open your mouths
    and stick out your tongues?
Are you not a rebellious brood,
    the offspring of liars?
⁵ You burn with lust among the oaks
    and under every spreading tree,
sacrificing your children in the ravines
    and under the clefts in the rocks.^[c]
6 The smooth stones of the ravines will be your portion;
    these are your lot.
To them you poured out libations
    and brought forth your cereal offerings.
    Should such acts appease me?
⁷ Upon a high and lofty mountain
    you have placed your bed,
    and there you went up to offer sacrifice.
⁸ Behind the door and the doorpost
    you have displayed your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you have uncovered your bed;
    you climbed into it and opened it wide.
You struck a profitable bargain
    with those whose beds you love,
    and you gazed endlessly at their nakedness.
⁹ You approached the king with oil,
    having lavished your body with perfumes.
You sent forth your procurers far and wide,
    even to the depths of Sheol.^[d]
10 Although exhausted by your endless travels,
    you never said, “It is useless.”
You realized that your desire had been rekindled,
    and so you never gave up.
¹¹ Whom did you so greatly dread and fear
    that you betrayed me
and no longer remembered me
    or gave me any thought?
Is it because I was silent for so long a time
    that you do not fear me?
¹² Now I will expose your conduct
    that you regard as so righteous.
¹³ When you cry out for help,
    your collection of idols will not save you.
The wind will carry off all of them;
    a gentle breeze will bear them away.
But whoever makes me his refuge
    will possess the land
    and inherit my holy mountain.

¹⁴ Then the Lord will say:
    Build up, build up! Prepare the way!
    Remove every obstruction from my people’s path.
¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and exalted,
    who lives eternally
    and whose name is holy:
I dwell in a high and holy place
    but I am with the contrite and the humble,
to revive the spirit of the humble
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶ I will not accuse forever,
    nor will I always be angry.
For then the spirits of the souls that I have made
    would grow faint because of me.
¹⁷ Because of their wicked avarice I was angry,
    and I struck them, keeping myself hidden,
    but they continued on their rebellious path.
¹⁸ I saw how they behaved, but I will heal them;
    I will lead them and fill them with consolation,
    both them and those who mourn for them.
¹⁹ Peace, peace to all, both far and near,
    and I will heal them, says the Lord.
²⁰ But the wicked are like the restless sea that cannot be still;
    its waters cast up mud and dirt.
²¹ There is no peace for the wicked,
    says my God.

¹ Shout loudly, without holding back.
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet.
Proclaim to my people their wicked deeds,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
² Yet they search for me day after day
    in their desire to know my ways,
as if they are a nation that adheres to righteousness
    and has not abandoned the law of their God.
They request that I make righteous judgments,
    and they long to be near God.
³ They ask, “Why should we fast
    when you do not even notice?
Why should we mortify ourselves
    when you pay no heed?”
The truth is that on your fast days
    you serve your own interests
    and oppress all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting only leads to quarrels and fights
    and lashing out with vicious blows.
Such fasting as you currently practice
    will not make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Is this the type of fast that pleases me,
    a day for a man to humble himself,
to bow his head like a reed
    and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?
⁶ This rather is the type of fast that I wish:
    to loosen the fetters of injustice,
    to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to set free those who are oppressed
    and to break every yoke,
⁷ to share your bread with the hungry
    and to offer shelter to the homeless poor,
to clothe the naked when you behold them
    and not turn your back on your own kin.
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your wound will quickly be healed;
your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then, when you call, the Lord will answer;
    you will cry out for help,
    and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you cease to tolerate the yoke of oppression,
    the pointing of fingers^[e] and malicious words,
¹⁰ if you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like midday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your needs in the barren desert.
He will strengthen your limbs,
    and you will be like a watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never run dry.
¹² Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt,
    constructed on foundations from generations past.
You will be called the rebuilder of broken walls
    and the restorer of ruined streets and dwellings.
¹³ If you refrain from traveling on the Sabbath
    and from engaging in your own interests on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a day of joy
    and regard the Lord’s holy day as honorable,
if you honor it by not going your own way,
    serving your own interests,
    or attending to your own affairs;
¹⁴ then you will find true happiness in the Lord,
    and I will enable you to ride
    upon the heights of the earth.
I will nourish you with the heritage of your father Jacob,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.