Is your portion;
They, they, are your lot!
Even to them you have poured a drink offering,
You have offered a grain offering.
Should I receive comfort in hthese?
7“Oni a lofty and high mountain
You have set jyour bed;
Even there you went up
To offer sacrifice.
8Also behind the doors and their posts
You have set up your remembrance;
For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me,
And have gone up to them;
You have enlarged your bed
And 2made a covenant with them;
k You have loved their bed,
Where you saw their 3nudity.
9l You went to the king with ointment,
And increased your perfumes;
You sent your mmessengers far off,
And even descended to Sheol.
10You are wearied in the length of your way;
n Yet you did not say, ‘There is no hope.’
You have found the life of your hand;
Therefore you were not grieved.
11“And oof whom have you been afraid, or feared,
That you have lied
And not remembered Me,
Nor taken it to your heart?
Is it not because pI have 4held My peace from of old
That you do not fear Me?
12I will declare your righteousness
And your works,
For they will not profit you.
13When you cry out,
Let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind will carry them all away,
A breath will take them.
But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land,
And shall inherit My holy mountain.”
Healing for the Backslider
14And one shall say,
q“Heap it up! Heap it up!
Prepare the way,
Take the stumbling block out of the way of My people.”
15For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, rwhose name is Holy:
s“I dwell in the high and holy place,
t With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
u To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16v For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would fail before Me,
And the souls wwhich I have made.
17For the iniquity of xhis covetousness
I was angry and struck him;
y I hid and was angry,
z And he went on 5backsliding in the way of his heart.
18I have seen his ways, and awill heal him;
I will also lead him,
And restore comforts to him
And to bhis mourners.
19“I create cthe fruit of the lips:
Peace, peace dto him who is far off and to him who is near,”
Says the LORD,
“And I will heal him.”
20e But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
When it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21“Theref is no peace,”
Says my God, “for the wicked.”
Fasting that Pleases God
Isaiah 58
A Description of True Religion
1“Cry aloud, 1spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
a Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
2Yet they seek Me daily,
And delight to know My ways,
As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in approaching God.
3‘Whyb have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we cafflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’
“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And 2exploit all your laborers.
4d Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
5Is eit a fast that I have chosen,
f A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And gto spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the LORD?
6“ Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To hloose the bonds of wickedness,
i To undo the 3heavy burdens,
j To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
7Is it not kto share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are 4cast out;
l When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from myour own flesh?
8n Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
o The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The 5pointing of the finger, and pspeaking wickedness,
10If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your 6darkness shall be as the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12Those from among you
q Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of 7Streets to Dwell In.
13“If ryou turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
14s Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
And I will cause you to tride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
u The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Separated from God
Isaiah 59
Corruption Separates the Nation from God
1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not ashortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will bnot hear.
3For cyour hands are defiled with 1blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in dempty words and speak lies;
e They conceive 2evil and bring forth iniquity.
5They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And f
rom that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6f Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7g Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed hinnocent blood;
i Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and jdestruction are in their paths.
8The way of kpeace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
l They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
Sin Confessed
9Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
m We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10n We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
11We all growl like bears,
And omoan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our ptransgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13In transgressing and lying against the LORD,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering qfrom the heart words of falsehood.
14Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
15So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a rprey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the LORD saw it, and 3it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16s He saw that there was no man,
And twondered that there was no intercessor;
u Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17v For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18w According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies;
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19x So shall they fear
The name of the LORD from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in ylike a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
20“Thez Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”
Says the LORD.
21“Asa for Me,” says the LORD, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the LORD, “from this time and forevermore.”
The Gentiles Bless Zion
Isaiah 60
The Future Glory of Zion
1Arise, ashine;
For your light has come!
And bthe glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
2For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the LORD will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
3The cGentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4“Liftd up your eyes all around, and see:
They all gather together, ethey come to you;
Your sons shall come from afar,
And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
5Then you shall see and become radiant,
And your heart shall swell with joy;
Because fthe abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.
6The multitude of camels shall cover your land,
The dromedaries of Midian and gEphah;
All those from hSheba shall come;
They shall bring igold and incense,
And they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.
7All the flocks of jKedar shall be gathered together to you,
The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
They shall ascend with kacceptance on My altar,
And lI will glorify the house of My glory.
8“Who are these who fly like a cloud,
And like doves to their roosts?
9m Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me;
And the ships of Tarshish will come first,
n To bring your sons from afar,
o Their silver and their gold with them,
To the name of the LORD your God,
And to the Holy One of Israel,
p Because He has glorified you.
10“Theq sons of foreigners shall build up your walls,
r And their kings shall minister to you;
For sin My wrath I struck you,
t But in My favor I have had mercy on you.
11Therefore your gates ushall be open continually;
They shall not be shut day or night,
That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles,
And their kings in procession.
12v For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish,
And those nations shall be utterly ruined.
13“Thew glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together,
To beautify the place of My sanctuary;
And I will make xthe place of My feet glorious.
14Also the sons of those who afflicted you
Shall come ybowing to you,
And all those who despised you shall zfall prostrate at the soles of your feet;
And they shall call you The City of the LORD,
a Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
So that no one went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellence,
A joy of many generations.
16You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles,
b And milk the breast of kings;
You shall know that cI, the LORD, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
Instead of iron I will bring silver,
Instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace,
And your magistrates righteousness.
18Violence shall no longer be heard in your land,
Neither 1wasting nor destruction within your borders;
But you shall call dyour walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise.
God the Glory of His People
19“The esun shall no longer be your light by day,
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,
And fyour God your glory.
20g Your sun shall no longer go down,
Nor shall your moon withdraw itself;
For the LORD will be your everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21h Also your people shall all be righteous;
<
br /> i They shall inherit the land forever,
j The branch of My planting,
k The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
22l A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation.
I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.”
The Good News of Salvation
Isaiah 61
The Good News of Salvation
1“The aSpirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD bhas anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me cto 1heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim dliberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2e To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And fthe day of vengeance of our God;
g To comfort all who mourn,
3To 2console those who mourn in Zion,
h To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
i The planting of the LORD, jthat He may be glorified.”
4And they shall krebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
5l Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6m But you shall be named the priests of the LORD,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
n You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.
7o Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8“For pI, the LORD, love justice;
q I hate robbery 3for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
r And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
9Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
s That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”
10t I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For uHe has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
v As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 330