Isaiah 56:1-8

Context

The Lord Invites Outsiders to Enter

56:1 This is what the Lord says,

“Promote¹ justice! Do what is right!

For I am ready to deliver you;

I am ready to vindicate you openly.²

56:2 The people who do this will be blessed,³

the people who commit themselves to obedience,⁴

who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

who refrain from doing anything that is wrong.⁵

56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of⁶ the Lord should say,

‘The Lord will certainly⁷ exclude me from his people.’

The eunuch should not say,

‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

56:4 For this is what the Lord says:

“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths

and choose what pleases me

and are faithful to⁸ my covenant,

56:5 I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument⁹

that will be better than sons and daughters.

I will set up a permanent monument¹⁰ for them that will remain.

56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of¹¹ the Lord and serve him,

who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –

all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

and who are faithful to¹² my covenant –

56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;

I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me.¹³

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,

for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.”¹⁴

56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,

the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:

“I will still gather them up.”¹⁵

[56:1] ¹tn Heb “guard”; KJV “Keep”; NAB “Observe”; NASB “Preserve”; NIV, NRSV “Maintain.”

[56:1] ²tn Heb “for near is my deliverance to enter, and my vindication [or “righteousness”] to be revealed.”

[56:2] ³tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”

[56:2] ⁴tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”

[56:2] ⁵tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

[56:3] ⁶tn Heb “who attaches himself to.”

[56:3] ⁷tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[56:4] ⁸tn Heb “and take hold of” (so KJV); NASB “hold fast.”

[56:5] ⁹tn Heb “a hand and a name.” For other examples where יָד (yad) refers to a monument, see HALOT 388 s.v.

[56:5] ¹⁰tn Heb “name” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[56:6] ¹¹tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”

[56:6] ¹²tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”

[56:7] ¹³tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”

[56:7] ¹⁴tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

[56:8] ¹⁵tn The meaning of the statement is unclear. The text reads literally, “Still I will gather upon him to his gathered ones.” Perhaps the preposition -לְ (lamed) before “gathered ones” introduces the object of the verb, as in Jer 49:5. The third masculine singular suffix on both עָלָיו (’alayv) and נִקְבָּצָיו (niqbatsayv) probably refers to “Israel.” In this case one can translate literally, “Still I will gather to him his gathered ones.”