Rewards for Obedience to God
Thus says the Lord,
“aPreserve justice and do righteousness,
For My bsalvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.
2 “How ablessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who btakes hold of it;
Who ckeeps from profaning the sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 Let not the aforeigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from His people.”
Nor let the beunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord,
“To the eunuchs who akeep My sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And bhold fast My covenant,
5 To them I will give in My ahouse and within My bwalls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting cname which dwill not be cut off.
6 “Also the aforeigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, every one who bkeeps from profaning the sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;
7 Even athose I will bring to My bholy mountain
And cmake them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on dMy altar;
For eMy house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
8 The Lord God, who agathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
“Yet bothers I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”
9 All you abeasts of the field,
All you beasts in the forest,
Come to eat.
10 His awatchmen are bblind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
11 And the dogs are agreedy, they are not satisfied.
And they are shepherds who have bno understanding;
They have all cturned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
12 “Come,” they say, “let us get awine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;
And btomorrow will be like today, only more so.”
Evil Leaders Rebuked
The righteous man perishes, and no man atakes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from bevil,
2 He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who awalked in his upright way.
3 “But come here, you sons of a asorceress,
bOffspring of an adulterer and a cprostitute.
4 “Against whom do you jest?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of arebellion,
Offspring of deceit,
5 Who inflame yourselves among the aoaks,
bUnder every luxuriant tree,
Who cslaughter the children in the ravines,
Under the clefts of the crags?
6 “Among the asmooth stones of the ravine
Is your portion, they are your lot;
Even to them you have bpoured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Shall I crelent concerning these things?
7 “Upon a ahigh and lofty mountain
You have bmade your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
8 “Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your sign;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have auncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,
You have loved their bed,
You have looked on their manhood.
9 “You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have asent your envoys a great distance
And made them go down to Sheol.
10 “You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘aIt is hopeless.’
You found renewed strength,
Therefore you did not faint.
11 “Of awhom were you worried and fearful
When you lied, and did bnot remember Me
Nor cgive Me a thought?
Was I not silent even for a long time
So you do not fear Me?
12 “I will adeclare your righteousness and your bdeeds,
But they will not profit you.
13 “When you cry out, alet your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind will carry all of them up,
And a breath will take them away.
But he who btakes refuge in Me will cinherit the land
And will dpossess My holy mountain.”
14 And it will be said,
“aBuild up, build up, prepare the way,
Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”
15 For thus says the ahigh and exalted One
Who blives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I cdwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the dcontrite and lowly of spirit
In order to erevive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 “For I will anot contend forever,
bNor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the cbreath of those whom I have made.
17 “Because of the iniquity of his aunjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on bturning away, in the way of his heart.
18 “I have seen his ways, but I will aheal him;
I will blead him and crestore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 Creating the apraise of the lips.
bPeace, peace to him who is cfar and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
20 But the awicked are like the tossing sea,
For it cannot be quiet,
And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
21 “aThere is no peace,” says bmy God, “for the wicked.”
Observances of Fasts
“aCry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their btransgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 “Yet they aseek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done brighteousness
And chas not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight din the nearness of God.
3 ‘Why have we afasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Behold, on the bday of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
4 “Behold, you fast for contention and astrife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to bmake your voice heard on high.
5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out asackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an bacceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To aloosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to blet the oppressed go free
And cbreak every yoke?
7 “Is it not to adivide your bread with the hungry
And bbring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the cnaked, to cover him;
And not to dhide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your alight will break out like the dawn,
And your brecovery will speedily spring forth;
And your crighteousness will go before you;
The glory of the dLord will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will acall, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you bremove the yoke from your midst,
The cpointing of the finger and dspeaking wickedness,
10 And if you agive yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your blight will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 “And the aLord will continually guide you,
And bsatisfy your desire in scorched places,
And cgive strength to your bones;
And you will be like a dwatered garden,
And like a espring of water whose waters do not fail.
12 “Those from among you will arebuild the ancient ruins;
You will braise up the age‑old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the cbreach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
Keeping the Sabbath
13 “If because of the sabbath, you aturn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a bdelight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your cown ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And dspeaking your own word,
14 Then you will take adelight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride bon the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the cmouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Separation from God
Behold, athe Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
bNor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
2 But your ainiquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does bnot hear.
3 For your ahands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken bfalsehood,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 aNo one sues righteously and bno one pleads honestly.
They ctrust in confusion and speak lies;
They dconceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs and aweave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.
6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they acover themselves with their works;
Their bworks are works of iniquity,
And an cact of violence is in their hands.
7 aTheir feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
bTheir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8 They do not know the away of peace,
And there is bno justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
cWhoever treads on them does not know peace.
A Confession of Wickedness
9 Therefore ajustice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We bhope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We agrope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We bstumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are clike dead men.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And amoan sadly like doves;
We hope for bjustice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our atransgressions are multiplied before You,
And our bsins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know our iniquities:
13 Transgressing and adenying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking boppression and revolt,
Conceiving in and cuttering from the heart lying words.
14 aJustice is turned back,
And brighteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil amakes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight bthat there was no justice.
16 And He saw that there was ano man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His bown arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
17 He put on arighteousness like a breastplate,
And a bhelmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on cgarments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with dzeal as a mantle.
18 aAccording to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.
19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the awest
And His glory from the brising of the sun,
For He will ccome like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “A aRedeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who bturn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the Lord.
21 “As for Me, this is My acovenant with them,” says the Lord: “My bSpirit which is upon you, and My cwords which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”