Isaiah 57
57
Chapter 57
1When somebody who worships God dies,
nobody else may think much about it.
An honest person may suddenly die.
Nobody really understands what is happening.
God takes away his servants,
so that evil things will not hurt them any more.
2When somebody who has lived in a good way dies,
he goes to a place where there is peace.
In death, people like that rest on their beds.
3The Lord says,
‘But you magicians, come here!
You use magic to learn about future times.
You are the family of an adulteress and a prostitute.
4Who do you think you are laughing at?
Who are you insulting?
Who are you pointing at with your tongue?
You are people who have turned against God.
You love to tell lies.
5You worship your idols among the big trees,
and you have sex at the same time. #57:5 They worshipped false gods that they thought would give them many children. So they had sex in a wrong way when they met together.
You kill your children as sacrifices to your false gods.
You do that beside streams
and in caves among the rocks.
6You take big stones from the streams,
and they become your idols.
They are the gods that you love to worship.
You pour drink offerings over them.
You offer grain to them.
Because of what you do,
should I not punish you?
7You go up to the tops of high hills,
and you lie down there to have sex.
You go there to offer sacrifices to your gods.
8You put your images behind the doors of your rooms.
Then you turn your backs to me,
and you get into bed with your false gods.
You have made an agreement with them.
You pay money to have sex with your lovers.
You love to see their bare bodies.
9You take olive oil as a gift to your king,
and also many perfumes. #57:9 ‘your king’ may be Molech, the false god that they worshipped.
You send your people far away
to get news of other gods.
You even talk to the spirits of dead people.
10You become very tired,
because you travel so far.
But you would never say,
“This is useless!”
Instead, you find new strength,
and you do not stop.
11What idol are you so afraid of,
that you choose to deceive me?
You seem to have forgotten about me.
You do not think about me at all.
Have I been silent for too long?
Is that why you no longer respect me?
12Now I will speak against the things that you do.
You think that they are good and right,
but those things will not help you.
13Shout for help, if you like.
See if your group of idols can help you!
The wind will blow them all away.
Even a breath will carry them away.
But if people trust me to help them,
this land will belong to them.
They will worship me on my holy mountain.’ #57:13 ‘my holy mountain’ means Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where Solomon built God's temple.
The Lord promises to help his people
14The Lord says,
‘Build a road! Make it ready for my people to travel on!
Remove everything that would cause them to fall.’
15The Mighty God is far higher than all others. He rules from above and he lives for ever. His name is holy. He says,
‘I live in a high and holy place.
But I am also with anyone who is humble
and who is sorry when he does wrong things.
I will comfort people who are like that,
and I will give them hope.
16I will not always speak against my people.
I will not be angry with them for ever.
I do not want them to lose hope completely.
I myself gave life to them.
17I was angry with them because they were greedy,
which was a sin.
So I punished them.
I was angry and I turned away from them.
But they still refused to obey me.
They continued to do what they wanted to do.
18I have seen what they are doing.
But I will make them well again.
I will be a guide for them,
and I will comfort them again.
Then people who are sad and they are weeping
19will sing songs to praise me!
I will give them a reason to do that.
I will bring peace to all my people,
those who are far away,
and those who are near.
Yes, I will make them completely well again.’
That is what the Lord says.
20‘But wicked people are like a rough sea
with dangerous waves.
It cannot stay still.
Its waves throw up mud and dirt.
21There will never be peace for wicked people.’
That is what my God says.
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MissionAssist 2018
Isaiah 57
57
LVII
1The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart;
And godly men are taken away, none considering
That out of the way of evil the righteous is taken away.
2He shall go in peace;
They shall rest on their beds,
Everyone that walketh in the straight path before him.
3But draw ye near hither, O sons of the sorceress!
The seed of the adulterer and the harlot.
4Of whom do ye make your sport?
At whom do ye widen the mouth, and put out the tongue?
Are ye not children of apostasy, a seed of falsehood,
5Who burn with the lust of idols under every green tree;
Who slay the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
6Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion;
They, they are thy lot;
Even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering,
Thou hast offered a meat-offering.
Can I be comforted by these things?
7Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed:
Even thither hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice.
8Behind the door also, and the door-post, hast thou set up thy memorial,
For thou hast uncovered thyself to another than me;
Thou hast gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed;
And thou hast obtained for thee an agreement from them:
Thou hast loved their bed,
The place which thou hast chosen.
9And thou wentest to the king with ointment,
And didst multiply thy perfumes;
And didst send thy messengers far off,
And didst debase thyself even unto Hades.
10In the length of thy journeys thou didst weary thyself;
Yet thou saidst not, It is hopeless:
Thou didst find the life of thy hand;
Therefore, thou hast not been dispirited.
11And of whom hast thou been fearful or afraid, that thou shouldest deal falsely, and not remember me,
Nor lay it to thine heart?
Have I not been silent, and that for a long time?
Is that it, therefore, that thou fearedst me not?
12I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works;
But they shall not profit thee.
13When thou criest, let thine associates deliver thee:
But the wind shall carry them all away; a breath of air shall take them off.
But he that trusteth in me shall possess the land,
And shall inherit my holy mountain.
14And it shall be said: Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way;
Remove the stumbling-block from the way of my people.
15For thus saith the high and lofty One,
Who inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit;
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
16For I will not always contend,
Neither will I be angry for ever:
For the spirit would languish away from before me,
And the souls which I have made.
17For the iniquity of his avarice was I angry, and smote him;
I hid me, and I was angry:
But he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
18I have seen his ways, and I will heal him; I will also be his guide; and I will restore comforts unto him,
And to his mourners.
19I create the fruit of the lips:
Peace, peace, to him that is afar off,
And to him that is near, saith Jehovah; and I will heal him.
20But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
Which cannot rest;
And whose waters cast up filth and mire.
21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.