Isaiah 57-59 - Prayer Tents

Isaiah 57

57Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.H6662H6H376H7760H3820H2617H582H622H995H6662H622H6440H74512For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.H935H7965H5117H4904H1980H52283“But you—come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!H7126H1121H6049H2233H5003H21814Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars!H6026H7337H6310H748H3956H3206H6588H2233H82675You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.H2552H410H7488H6086H7819H3206H5158H5585H55536Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Do you think all this makes me happy?H2511H5158H2506H1486H8210H5262H5927H4503H51627You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.H1364H5375H2022H7760H4904H5927H2076H20778You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.H310H1817H4201H7760H2146H1540H5927H7337H4904H3772H157H4904H3027H23729You have given olive oil to Molech

with many gifts of perfume. You have traveled far, even into the world of the dead, to find new gods to love.H7788H4428H8081H7235H7547H7971H6735H7350H8213H758510You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.H3021H7230H1870H559H2976H4672H2416H3027H247011“Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?H1672H3372H3576H2142H7760H3820H2814H5769H337212Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you.H5046H6666H4639H327613Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”H2199H6899H5337H7307H5375H1892H3947H2620H5157H776H3423H6944H202214God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.”H559H5549H5549H6437H1870H7311H4383H1870H597115The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this. “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.H559H7311H5375H7931H5703H8034H6918H7931H4791H6918H1793H8217H7307H2421H7307H8217H2421H3820H179216For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away—all the souls I have made.H7378H5769H5331H7107H7307H5848H6440H5397H621317I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way.H5771H1215H7107H5221H5641H7107H3212H7726H1870H382018I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn,H7200H1870H7495H5148H7999H5150H5719bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the Lord, who heals them.H1254H5108H8193H7965H7965H7350H7138H559H3068H749520“But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.H7563H1644H3220H3201H8252H4325H1644H7516H291621There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.H7965H559H430H7563

Isaiah 58

58“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel

of their sins!H7121H1627H2820H7311H6963H7782H5046H5971H6588H1004H3290H24032Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.H1875H3117H3117H2654H1847H1870H1471H6213H6666H5800H4941H430H7592H4941H6664H2654H7132H4303‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.H6684H7200H6031H5315H3045H3117H6685H4672H2656H5065H60924What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.H6684H7379H4683H5221H106H7562H6684H3117H6963H8085H47915You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?H6685H977H3117H120H6031H5315H3721H7218H100H3331H8242H665H7121H2088H6685H7522H3117H30686“No, this is the kind of fasting I want. Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.H6685H977H6605H2784H7562H5425H4133H92H7533H7971H2670H5423H41337Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.H6536H3899H7457H935H6041H4788H1004H7200H6174H3680H5956H13208“Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.H216H1234H7837H724H6779H4120H6664H1980H6440H3519H3068H6229Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!H7121H3068H6030H7768H559H5493H8432H4133H7971H676H1696H20510Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.H6329H5315H7457H7646H6031H5315H216H2224H2822H653H667211The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.H3068H5148H8548H7646H5315H6710H2502H6106H7302H1588H4161H4325H4325H357612Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.H1129H5769H2723H6965H4146H1755H1755H7121H1443H6556H7725H5410H342713“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.H7725H7272H7676H6213H2656H6944H3117H7121H7676H6027H6918H3068H3513H3513H6213H1870H4672H2656H1696H169714Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H6026H3068H7392H1116H776H398H5159H3290H1H6310H3068H1696

Isaiah 59

59Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.H2005H3068H3027H7114H3467H241H3513H80852It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.H5771H914H996H430H2403H5641H6440H80853Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.H3709H1351H1818H676H5771H8193H1696H8267H3956H1897H57664No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin.H7121H6664H8199H530H982H8414H1696H7723H2029H5999H3205H2055They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever falls into their webs will die, and there’s danger even in getting near them.H1234H6848H1000H707H5908H6980H398H1000H4191H2116H1234H6606Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.H6980H899H3680H4639H4639H4639H205H6467H2555H37097Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.H7272H7323H7451H4116H8210H5355H1818H4284H4284H205H7701H7667H45468They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.H1870H7965H3045H4941H4570H6140H5410H1869H3045H79659So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.H4941H7368H6666H5381H6960H216H2822H5054H1980H65310We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.H1659H7023H5787H1659H5869H3782H6672H5399H820H419111We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.H1993H1677H1897H1897H3123H6960H4941H3444H736812For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.H6588H7231H2403H6030H6588H5771H304513We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.H6586H3584H3068H5253H310H430H1696H6233H5627H2029H1897H3820H1697H826714Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.H4941H5253H268H6666H5975H7350H571H3782H7339H5229H3201H93515Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.H571H5737H5493H7451H7997H3068H7200H3415H5869H494116He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.H7200H376H8074H6293H2220H3467H6666H556417He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.H3847H6666H8302H3553H3444H7218H3847H899H5359H8516H5844H7068H459818He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.H5921H1578H7999H2534H6862H1576H341H339H7999H157619In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord

.H3372H8034H3068H4628H3519H4217H8121H6862H935H5104H7307H3068H512720“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,”

says the Lord.H1350H935H6726H7725H6588H3290H5002H306821“And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!H1285H559H3068H7307H1697H7760H6310H4185H6310H6310H2233H6310H2233H2233H559H3068H5704H5769