Isaiah 56

¹Thus says the Lord :[#This opening verse echoes themes that are well known throughout the Book of Isaiah: justice and right judgment (1:27; 5:7, 16; 9:6; 16:5; 26:9; 28:17; 32:1, 16; 33:5; 42:1, 4, 6; 45:8, 13, 19), salvation and deliverance (12:3; 26:18; 33:2; 45:8, 21; 46:13; 51:5, 6, 8). These themes will be developed also throughout Third Isaiah.]

Observe what is right, do what is just,

for my salvation is about to come,

my justice, about to be revealed.

²Happy is the one who does this,

whoever holds fast to it:

Keeping the sabbath without profaning it,

keeping one’s hand from doing any evil.

³The foreigner joined to the Lord should not say,[#Eunuchs had originally been excluded from the community of the Lord; cf. Dt 23:2; Neh 13:1–3; Wis 3:14.]

“The Lord will surely exclude me from his people”;

Nor should the eunuch say,

“See, I am a dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the Lord :

To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,

who choose what pleases me,

and who hold fast to my covenant,

⁵I will give them, in my house

and within my walls, a monument and a name

Better than sons and daughters;

an eternal name, which shall not be cut off, will I give them.

⁶And foreigners who join themselves to the Lord ,

to minister to him,

To love the name of the Lord ,

to become his servants—

All who keep the sabbath without profaning it

and hold fast to my covenant,

⁷Them I will bring to my holy mountain[#This verse continues the theme of universalism found in Is 49:6. As Israel was to be “a light to the nations” so that God’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” so now does that come to pass as foreigners, faithful to the divine commands, are brought to the Temple by God and joined to the covenant community of Israel.]

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be acceptable on my altar,

For my house shall be called

a house of prayer for all peoples.

⁸Oracle of the Lord God ,[#For the gathering of the dispersed people of Israel, cf. Jer 23:3; 31:8–9; Ez 11:17. Here the Lord not only gathers the displaced of Israel, but also unites other peoples to them. Cf. Is 60:3–10; 66:18–21.]

who gathers the dispersed of Israel—

Others will I gather to them

besides those already gathered.

⁹All you beasts of the field,[#: foreign nations, which are invited to come and ravage Israel.]

come to devour,

all you beasts in the forest!

¹⁰All the sentinels of Israel are blind,[#These shepherds of Israel are without “knowledge,” a theme developed earlier in the Isaian corpus; cf. 1:3; 6:9–10. Ezekiel 34 has similar condemnatory words against the unfaithful shepherds of Israel.]

they are without knowledge;

They are all mute dogs,

unable to bark;

Dreaming, reclining,

loving their sleep.

¹¹Yes, the dogs have a ravenous appetite;

they never know satiety,

Shepherds who have no understanding;

all have turned their own way,

each one covetous for gain:

¹²“Come, let me bring wine;

let us fill ourselves with strong drink,

And tomorrow will be like today,

or even greater.”