Isaiah 57

People who do what is right die, and no one takes it to heart. Faithful, kind people are swept away, and no one understands that they are being taken away from the trouble that is coming.

1The 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.

NoteTwo things in this verse read oddly in English. "Takes it to heart" is a Hebrew idiom for paying attention to something and drawing a conclusion from it, not for being emotionally moved. And the last clause is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean the righteous are gathered away *before* a disaster arrives, or that they are removed *from the presence of* evil people. Translations divide.

2Such a person enters into peace. Those who lived honest lives find rest, lying down in their beds.

2He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

Note"Beds" here is standard Hebrew language for the grave: the dead are spoken of as lying down, sleeping, or resting in their beds. The verse is describing burial, not a night's sleep.

3But come here, you children of a woman who works magic spells, you offspring of a man who cheats on his wife and of a woman who sells her body.

3But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

NoteCalling someone the child of a sorceress or a prostitute makes no claim about their actual parents. In Hebrew insult, "son of" or "offspring of" means "one who belongs to that class of person", so, roughly, "you people of magic and betrayal." From here through verse 13 the prophet describes the nation's worship of other gods in the language of a wife's adultery. This is a stock image in the prophets: the bond between God and the nation was spoken of as a marriage, so worshiping other gods is spoken of as sleeping around.

4Who is it you are making fun of? Who are you sneering at, with your mouth stretched wide and your tongue stuck out? Aren't you children of rebellion, offspring of lies?

4Against 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,

5You burn with lust among the oaks, under every leafy green tree. You kill your children in the valleys, under the cracks in the rocky cliffs.

5Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

NoteLarge trees, oaks and terebinths, marked open-air shrines, and the worship carried out at them often involved ritual sex, which is why the language here is sexual. The Hebrew word for these trees is almost identical to the word for gods, which is why the King James translators read it as "idols" rather than "oaks." Killing children in the valleys refers to child sacrifice, practiced in the ravines outside Jerusalem, particularly the Valley of Hinnom.

6Your share is among the smooth stones of the streambed; yes, those stones are what you get. You even poured out drink offerings to them and brought them grain offerings. Should I be satisfied with all this?

6Among 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?

Note"Share" and "lot" are the ordinary words for the plot of land each Israelite family was allotted as its permanent inheritance, the same words used elsewhere to say that God himself is a person's portion. The line is bitter: these smooth water-worn stones, apparently set up in dry streambeds as objects of worship, are all the inheritance you will get. A drink offering was wine poured out on the ground or on an altar; a grain offering was flour, grain or baked bread presented rather than an animal.

7You have made your bed on a high, towering hill, and you went up there to offer sacrifices.

7Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

NoteHilltop shrines, "high places", were the usual sites for worship of gods other than the LORD. "Bed" carries both senses at once: the couch set up at such a shrine, and the adultery image running through the passage.

8Behind the door and the doorpost you set up your own token. You turned away from me, uncovered your bed and climbed in, and made it wide. You made a deal with those whose bed you loved, and you stared at their naked bodies.

8Behind 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.

NoteIsraelites were instructed to write God's commands on the doorposts of their houses, so setting up some other token in that exact spot is the sting of the accusation. The end of the verse is obscure in Hebrew: the key word can mean "hand," or "monument, marker, pillar," or serve as a euphemism for the male sex organ, so translators divide between "you gazed on their nakedness" and "you looked on the monument." "Made a deal" translates the word for a covenant, a formal, binding agreement, the same word used for the agreement between God and Israel.

9You traveled to the king carrying olive oil, and you piled on more and more perfume. You sent your messengers far away, and you sank yourself as low as the world of the dead.

9And 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.

NoteThe Hebrew word here is *melek*, "king," but written with the same consonants as *Molech*, the name of a god associated with child sacrifice; ancient and modern readers have gone both ways. On the first reading this is a diplomatic mission to a foreign ruler, with olive oil and perfume as the customary gifts; on the second it is worship. "The world of the dead" is Sheol, the shadowy place beneath the earth where all the dead were thought to go.

10All your long journeys wore you out, but you never said, "There is no hope." You found fresh strength, so you did not give up.

10Thou 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.

NoteThe Hebrew of the middle of this verse reads literally "you found the life of your hand," a phrase that occurs nowhere else and is not fully understood. It is usually taken to mean finding renewed strength or vigor.

11Who were you so afraid of, so full of dread, that you lied and did not remember me or think about me at all? Is it not because I have kept silent so long that you have no fear of me?

11And 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?

12I will expose the goodness you claim to have, along with everything you have done, and none of it will do you any good.

12I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

13When you cry for help, let the crowd of idols you have collected rescue you! But the wind will carry them all off; one puff of breath will take them away. Yet whoever takes shelter in me will inherit the land and take possession of my holy mountain.

13When 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;

NoteThe word behind "the crowd of idols you have collected" simply means "your collection" or "your assembled ones," and could refer either to a hoard of images or to a set of foreign allies. The same Hebrew word means both wind and breath, so "the wind will carry them off" and "one puff of breath will take them away" are the same image twice. "The land" is the territory promised to Israel; "my holy mountain" is the temple hill in Jerusalem, also called Zion.

14And it will be said: "Build up the road, build it up, get the way ready! Take every obstacle out of the path of my people."

14And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

NoteAhead of a king's journey or a returning procession, road crews would clear stones and pile up an embanked track across low ground. Isaiah uses this repeatedly as an image for preparing for the people's return home.

15This is what the high and lifted-up One says, the one who lives forever, whose name is Holy: "I live in the high and holy place, and I also live with the person whose spirit is crushed and humble, to bring the humble spirit back to life and to bring the crushed heart back to life."

15For 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.

Note"Holy" in Hebrew means set apart, belonging to a different order of things, rather than "morally excellent"; the name is a statement about separateness. The word rendered "crushed" ("contrite" in older English) literally means broken into pieces.

16I will not bring my case against people forever, and I will not stay angry always. If I did, the human spirit would give out in front of me, along with the lives I myself have made.

16For 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.

Note"Bring my case against" translates a courtroom term: to press a lawsuit or accusation against someone. In the second half, "spirit" and "lives" both translate words that also mean breath, the breath God put into human beings at their making. The point is that under unending anger that breath would simply run out.

17I was angry at his sinful greed, so I struck him. I hid my face and was angry, but he kept on going his own stubborn way.

17For 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.

NoteHiding the face is a fixed idiom for withdrawing attention and favor, the opposite of turning your face towards someone, which meant acceptance and goodwill.

18I have seen the way he lives, and I will heal him anyway. I will guide him and give comfort back to him and to those who mourn with him.

18I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

19I create the words that come from people's lips. Peace, peace to the one who is far away and to the one who is near, says the LORD, and I will heal him.

19I 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.

20But wicked people are like the sea when it is churned up and cannot settle down, and its waters stir up mud and filth.

20But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

21"There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.