Isaiah:56-59

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* Thus saith the LORD , Keep ye judgment , and do justice : for my salvation is near to come , and my righteousness to be revealed . * Blessed is the man that doeth this , and the son of man that layeth hold on it ; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it , and keepeth his hand from doing any evil . * Neither let the son of the stranger , that hath joined himself to the LORD , speak , saying , The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people : neither let the eunuch say , Behold , I am a dry tree . * For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths , and choose the things that please me , and take hold of my covenant ; * Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters : I will give them an everlasting name , that shall not be cut off . * Also the sons of the stranger , that join themselves to the LORD , to serve him , and to love the name of the LORD , to be his servants , every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it , and taketh hold of my covenant ; * Even them will I bring to my holy mountain , and make them joyful in my house of prayer : their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar ; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people . * The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith , Yet will I gather others to him , beside those that are gathered unto him . * All ye beasts of the field , come to devour , yea , all ye beasts in the forest . * His watchmen are blind : they are all ignorant , they are all dumb dogs , they cannot bark ; sleeping , lying down , loving to slumber . * Yea , they are greedy dogs which can never have enough , and they are shepherds that cannot understand : they all look to their own way , every one for his gain , from his quarter . * Come ye , say they , I will fetch wine , and we will fill ourselves with strong drink ; and to morrow shall be as this day , and much more abundant . * The righteous perisheth , and no man layeth it to heart : and merciful men are taken away , none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come . * He shall enter into peace : they shall rest in their beds , each one walking in his uprightness . * But draw near hither , ye sons of the sorceress , the seed of the adulterer and the whore . * Against whom do ye sport yourselves ? against whom make ye a wide mouth , and draw out the tongue ? are ye not children of transgression , a seed of falsehood , * Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree , slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks ? * Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion ; they , they are thy lot : even to them hast thou poured a drink offering , thou hast offered a meat offering . Should I receive comfort in these ? * Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed : even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice . * Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance : for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me , and art gone up ; thou hast enlarged thy bed , and made thee a covenant with them ; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it . * And thou wentest to the king with ointment , and didst increase thy perfumes , and didst send thy messengers far off , and didst debase thyself even unto hell . * Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way ; yet saidst thou not , There is no hope : thou hast found the life of thine hand ; therefore thou wast not grieved . * And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared , that thou hast lied , and hast not remembered me , nor laid it to thy heart ? have not I held my peace even of old , and thou fearest me not ? * I will declare thy righteousness , and thy works ; for they shall not profit thee . * When thou criest , let thy companies deliver thee ; but the wind shall carry them all away ; vanity shall take them : but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land , and shall inherit my holy mountain ; * And shall say , Cast ye up , cast ye up , prepare the way , take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people . * For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity , 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 ones . * For I will not contend for ever , neither will I be always wroth : for the spirit should fail before me , and the souls which I have made . * For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth , and smote him : I hid me , and was wroth , and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart . * I have seen his ways , and will heal him : I will lead him also , and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners . * I create the fruit of the lips ; Peace , peace to him that is far off , and to him that is near , saith the LORD ; and I will heal him . * But the wicked are like the troubled sea , when it cannot rest , whose waters cast up mire and dirt . * There is no peace , saith my God , to the wicked . * Cry aloud , spare not , lift up thy voice like a trumpet , and shew my people their transgression , and the house of Jacob their sins . * Yet they seek me daily , and delight to know my ways , as a nation that did righteousness , and forsook not the ordinance of their God : they ask of me the ordinances of justice ; they take delight in approaching to God . * Wherefore have we fasted , say they , and thou seest not ? wherefore have we afflicted our soul , and thou takest no knowledge ? Behold , in the day of your fast ye find pleasure , and exact all your labours . * Behold , ye fast for strife and debate , and to smite with the fist of wickedness : ye shall not fast as ye do this day , to make your voice to be heard on high . * Is it such a fast that I have chosen ? a day for a man to afflict his soul ? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush , and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? wilt thou call this a fast , and an acceptable day to the LORD ? * Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness , to undo the heavy burdens , and to let the oppressed go free , and that ye break every yoke ? * Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry , and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked , that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? * Then shall thy light break forth as the morning , and thine health shall spring forth speedily : and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward . * Then shalt thou call , and the LORD shall answer ; thou shalt cry , and he shall say , Here I am . If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke , the putting forth of the finger , and speaking vanity ; * And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry , and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise in obscurity , and thy darkness be as the noonday : * And the LORD shall guide thee continually , and satisfy thy soul in drought , and make fat thy bones : and thou shalt be like a watered garden , and like a spring of water , whose waters fail not . * And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places : thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations ; and thou shalt be called , The repairer of the breach , The restorer of paths to dwell in . * If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath , from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the sabbath a delight , the holy of the LORD , honourable ; and shalt honour him , not doing thine own ways , nor finding thine own pleasure , nor speaking thine own words : * Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth , and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father : for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it . * Behold , the LORD 'S hand is not shortened , that it cannot save ; neither his ear heavy , that it cannot hear : * But your iniquities have separated between you and your God , and your sins have hid his face from you , that he will not hear . * For your hands are defiled with blood , and your fingers with iniquity ; your lips have spoken lies , your tongue hath muttered perverseness . * None calleth for justice , nor any pleadeth for truth : they trust in vanity , and speak lies ; they conceive mischief , and bring forth iniquity . * They hatch cockatrice ' eggs , and weave the spider 's web : he that eateth of their eggs dieth , and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper . * Their webs shall not become garments , neither shall they cover themselves with their works : their works are works of iniquity , and the act of violence is in their hands . * Their feet run to evil , and they make haste to shed innocent blood : their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity ; wasting and destruction are in their paths . * The way of peace they know not ; and there is no judgment in their goings : they have made them crooked paths : whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace . * Therefore is judgment far from us , neither doth justice overtake us : we wait for light , but behold obscurity ; for brightness , but we walk in darkness . * We grope for the wall like the blind , and we grope as if we had no eyes : we stumble at noonday as in the night ; we are in desolate places as dead men . * We roar all like bears , and mourn sore like doves : we look for judgment , but there is none ; for salvation , but it is far off from us . * For our transgressions are multiplied before thee , and our sins testify against us : for our transgressions are with us ; and as for our iniquities , we know them ; * In transgressing and lying against the LORD , and departing away from our God , speaking oppression and revolt , conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood . * And judgment is turned away backward , and justice standeth afar off : for truth is fallen in the street , and equity cannot enter . * Yea , truth faileth ; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey : and the LORD saw it , and it displeased him that there was no judgment . * And he saw that there was no man , and wondered that there was no intercessor : therefore his arm brought salvation unto him ; and his righteousness , it sustained him . * For he put on righteousness as a breastplate , and an helmet of salvation upon his head ; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing , and was clad with zeal as a cloke . * According to their deeds , accordingly he will repay , fury to his adversaries , recompence to his enemies ; to the islands he will repay recompence . * So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west , and his glory from the rising of the sun . When the enemy shall come in like a flood , the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him . * And the Redeemer shall come to Zion , and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob , saith the LORD . * As for me , this is my covenant with them , saith the LORD ; My spirit that is upon thee , and my words which I have put in thy mouth , shall not depart out of thy mouth , nor out of the mouth of thy seed , nor out of the mouth of thy seed 's seed , saith the LORD , from henceforth and for ever . * Arise , shine ; for thy light is come , and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee .

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