Isaiah 57

1 The just man perishes, but no one takes it to heart; Devout men are swept away, with no one giving it a thought. Though he is taken away from the presence of evil, the just man
2 enters into peace; There is rest on his couch for the sincere, straightforward man.
3 But you, draw near, you sons of a sorceress, adulterous, wanton race!
4 Of whom do you make sport, at whom do you open wide your mouth, and put out your tongue? Are you not rebellious children, a worthless race;
5 You who are in heat among the terebinths, under every green tree; You who immolate children in the wadies, behind the crevices in the cliffs?
6 Among the smooth stones of the wadi is your portion, these are your lot; To these you poured out libations, and brought offerings. Should I decide not to punish these things?
7 Upon a high and lofty mountain you made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the doorpost you placed your indecent symbol. Deserting me, you spread out your high, wide bed; And of those whose embraces you love you carved the symbol and gazed upon it
9 While you approached the king with scented oil, and multiplied your perfumes; While you sent your ambassadors far away, down even to the nether world.
10 Though worn out by your many misdeeds, you never said, It is hopeless; New strength you found, and so you did not weaken.
11 Of whom were you afraid? Whom did you fear, that you became false And did not remember me or give me any thought? Was I to remain silent and unseeing, so that you would not have me to fear?
12 I will expose your justice and your works;
13 They shall not help you when you cry out, nor save you in your distress. All these the wind shall carry off, the breeze shall bear away; But he who takes refuge in me shall inherit the land, and possess my holy mountain.
14 Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove the stumbling blocks from my people's path.
15 For thus says he who is high and exalted, living eternally, whose name is the Holy One: On high I dwell, and in holiness, and with the crushed and dejected in spirit, To revive the spirits of the dejected, to revive the hearts of the crushed.
16 I will not accuse forever, nor always be angry; For their spirits would faint before me, the souls that I have made.
17 Because of their wicked avarice I was angry, and struck them, hiding myself in wrath, as they went their own rebellious way.
18 I saw their ways, but I will heal them and lead them; I will give full comfort to them and to those who mourn for them,
19 I, the Creator, who gave them life. Peace, peace to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them.
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot be calmed, And its waters cast up mud and filth.
21 No peace for the wicked! says my God.

Isaiah 58

1 Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
3 Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it? Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
4 Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
7 Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
10 If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
11 Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.
12 The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; Repairer of the breach, they shall call you, Restorer of ruined homesteads.
13 If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice--
14 Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 59

1 Lo, the hand of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 Rather, it is your crimes that separate you from your God, It is your sins that make him hide his face so that he will not hear you.
3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt; Your lips speak falsehood, and your tongue utters deceit.
4 No one brings suit justly, no one pleads truthfully; They trust in emptiness and tell lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth malice.
5 They hatch adders' eggs, and weave spiders' webs: Whoever eats their eggs will die, if one of them is pressed, it will hatch as a viper;
6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing, nor can they cover themselves with their works. Their works are evil works, and deeds of violence come from their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are destructive thoughts, plunder and ruin are on their highways.
8 The way of peace they know not, and there is nothing that is right in their paths; Their ways they have made crooked, whoever treads them knows no peace.
9 That is why right is far from us and justice does not reach us. We look for light, and lo, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom!
10 Like blind men we grope along the wall, like people without eyes we feel our way. We stumble at midday as at dusk, in Stygian darkness, like the dead.
11 We all growl like bears, like doves we moan without ceasing. We look for right, but it is not there; for salvation, and it is far from us.
12 For our offenses before you are many, our sins bear witness against us. Yes, our offenses are present to us, and our crimes we know:
13 Transgressing, and denying the LORD, turning back from following our God, Threatening outrage, and apostasy, uttering words of falsehood the heart has conceived.
14 Right is repelled, and justice stands far off; For truth stumbles in the public square, uprightness cannot enter.
15 Honesty is lacking, and the man who turns from evil is despoiled. The LORD saw this, and was aggrieved that right did not exist.
16 He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was none to intervene; So his own arm brought about the victory, and his justice lent him its support.
17 He put on justice as his breastplate, salvation, as the helmet on his head; He clothed himself with garments of vengeance, wrapped himself in a mantle of zeal.
18 He repays his enemies their deserts, and requites his foes with wrath.
19 Those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD, and those in the east, his glory; For it shall come like a pent-up river which the breath of the LORD drives on.
20 He shall come to Zion a redeemer to those of Jacob who turn from sin, says the LORD.
21 This is the covenant with them which I myself have made, says the LORD: My spirit which is upon you and my words that I have put into your mouth Shall never leave your mouth, nor the mouths of your children Nor the mouths of your children's children from now on and forever, says the LORD.