Part 873

56:3. And let not the son of the stranger, that adhereth to the Lord, speak, saying: The Lord will divide and separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree.

56:4. For thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, They that shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose the things that please me, and shall hold fast my covenant:

56:5. I will give to them in my house, and within my walls, a place, and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name which shall never perish.

56:6. And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant:

56:7. I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.

56:8. The Lord God, who gathereth the scattered of Israel, saith: I will still gather unto him his congregation.

56:9. All ye beasts of the field come to devour, all ye beasts of the forest.

56:10. His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams.

56:11. And most impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last.

56:12. Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as to day, so also to morrow, and much more.

Isaias Chapter 57

The infidelity of the Jews: their idolatry. Promises to humble penitents.

57:1. The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil.

57:2. Let peace come, let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his uprightness.

57:3. But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot.

57:4. Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? are not you wicked children, a false seed,

57:5. Who seek your comfort in idols under every green tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the high rocks?

57:6. In the parts of the torrent is thy portion, this is thy lot: and thou hast poured out libations to them, thou hast offered sacrifice. Shall I not be angry at these things?

57:7. Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast laid thy bed, and hast gone up thither to offer victims.

57:8. And behind the door, and behind the post thou hast set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself near me, and hast received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant with them: thou hast loved their bed with open hand.

57:9. And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and wast debased even to hell.

57:10. Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy ways: yet thou saidst not: I will rest: thou hast found life of thy hand, therefore thou hast not asked.

57:11. For whom hast thou been solicitous and afraid, that thou hast lied, and hast not been mindful of me, nor thought on me in thy heart? for I am silent, and as one that seeth not, and thou hast forgotten me.

57:12. I will declare thy justice, and thy works shall not profit thee.

57:13. When thou shalt cry, let thy companies deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all off, a breeze shall take them away, but he that putteth his trust in me, shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mount.

57:14. And I will say: Make a way: give free passage, turn out of the path, take away the stumblingblocks out of the way of my people.

57:15. For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth eternity: and his name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, and with a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

57:16. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be angry unto the end: because the spirit shall go forth from my face, and breathings I will make.