Isaiah 55:1-3

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, ¹  all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost! ² 

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ³ 

Why spend ⁴  your hard-earned money ⁵  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ⁶  to me and eat what is nourishing! ⁷ 

Enjoy fine food! ⁸ 

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ⁹ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ¹⁰  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹² 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹³ 

and sinful people their plans. ¹⁴ 

They should return ¹⁵  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ¹⁶ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ¹⁷ 

Acts 8:22

8:22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord ¹⁸  that he may perhaps forgive you for the intent of your heart. ¹⁹ 

Revelation 3:17-18

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ²⁰  and need nothing,” but ²¹  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ²²  poor, blind, and naked, 3:18 take my advice ²³  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ²⁴  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ²⁵  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ²⁶  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[55:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.

[55:1]  ² sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”

[55:2]  ³ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁴ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ⁶ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:3]  ⁹ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[55:6]  ¹² tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ¹⁷ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[8:22]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and implore the Lord.”

[8:22]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in contemporary English and has thus been converted to an active construction in the translation.

[3:17]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ²² tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[3:18]  ²³ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ²⁴ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ²⁶ sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).