Isaiah · Catholic Public Domain Version
Isaiah 56 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 Thus says the Lord: Preserve judgment, and accomplish justice. For my salvation is close to its arrival, and my justice is close to being revealed.
1 Yahweh says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds to this, keeping the Sabbath and not profaning it, guarding his hands and not doing any evil.
2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 And let not the son of the new arrival, who adheres 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.”
3 Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: They will keep my Sabbaths, and they will choose the things that I will, and they will hold to my covenant.
4 For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,
5 I will give them a place in my house, within my walls, and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, which will never perish.
5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
6 And the sons of the new arrival, who adhere to the Lord so as to worship him and to love his name, shall be his servants: all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it, and who hold to my covenant.
6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant,
7 I will lead them to my holy mountain, and I will gladden them in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their victims will be pleasing to me upon my altar. For my house will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.
7 I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, says: Even now, I will gather his congregation to him.
8 The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are gathered.”
9 All beasts of the field, all the beasts of the forest: approach and devour!
9 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
10 His watchmen are all blind. They are all ignorant. They are mute dogs without the ability to bark, seeing empty things, sleeping and loving dreams.
10 His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 And these very imprudent dogs have never known satisfaction. The shepherds themselves do not know understanding. All have turned aside in their own way, each one to his own avarice, from the highest even to the least:
11 Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
12 “Come, let us take wine, and be filled by inebriation. And as it is today, so shall it be tomorrow and for a long time.”
12 “Come,” they say, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
Cross references (12)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Romans 13:11–14; Psalm 85:9; Matthew 3:2; Isaiah 1:16–19; Romans 1:17
- 2 Exodus 31:13–16; Isaiah 58:13; Psalm 112:1; Ezekiel 20:12; Luke 11:28
- 3 1 Corinthians 6:17; Matthew 19:12–30; Acts 10:34; Jeremiah 50:5; Numbers 18:4
- 4 Joshua 24:15; Psalm 119:111; Luke 10:42; Isaiah 27:5; Isaiah 56:6
- 5 Revelation 3:12; Revelation 3:5; 1 John 3:1; John 1:12; 1 Timothy 3:15
- 6 Jeremiah 50:5; Isaiah 58:13; Isaiah 56:2–4; Galatians 5:6; James 2:5
- 7 Mark 11:17; Isaiah 2:2–3; Malachi 1:11; Luke 19:46; Matthew 21:13
- 8 John 10:16; Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 60:3–11; Zechariah 10:8–10; Ephesians 2:14–16
- 9 Jeremiah 12:9; Deuteronomy 28:26; Isaiah 18:6; Ezekiel 39:17; Ezekiel 29:5
- 10 Isaiah 29:10; Ezekiel 33:6; Matthew 15:14; Philippians 3:2; Isaiah 58:1
- 11 Ezekiel 34:2–3; Ezekiel 13:19; John 8:43; Micah 3:11; Micah 3:5–6
- 12 Psalm 10:6; Luke 12:19–20; Proverbs 27:1; Isaiah 5:22; Proverbs 23:35
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The seed, then, and the name of the saints shall remain in that blessedness,--the seed, to wit, of which John says, "And his seed remaineth in him;" and the name, of which it was said through Isaiah himself, "I will give them an everlasting name." "And there shall be to them month after month, and Sabbath after Sabbath," as if …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Wherefore also He Himself sets up Isaiah against them as an accuser, saying, "My house shall be called a house of prayer." But not in this way only doth He show His authority, but also by His healing divers infirmities.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… another Psalm also said, "They shall be turned at even, and hunger they shall suffer as dogs." For even some dogs have been reproved by the Prophet Isaiah, not because they were dogs, but because they knew not how to bark, and loved to sleep. In which place indeed he hath shown, that if they had watched and barked for …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
For of these it is said elsewhere, "Dumb dogs, they know not how to bark." Of them too is that said, "Lo, how the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart." He perished as far as lay in them who would have Him to perish; for how could He perish by dying, who in that way rather was …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)