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¹The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart; And devout people are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous person is taken away from evil,

²He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.

³“But come here, you sons of a sorceress, Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!

⁴Of whom do you make fun? Against whom do you open wide your mouth And stick out your tongue? Are you not children of rebellion, Offspring of deceit,

⁵Who inflame yourselves among the oaks, Under every luxuriant tree, Who slaughter the children in the ravines, Under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of the ravine Is your portion, they are your lot; Even to them you have poured out a drink offering, You have made a grain offering. Should I relent of these things?

⁷On a high and lofty mountain You have made your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost You have set up your sign; Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself, And have gone up and made your bed wide. And you have made an agreement for yourself with them, You have loved their bed, You have looked at their manhood.

⁹You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol.

¹⁰You were tired out by the length of your road, Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless!’ You found renewed strength, Therefore you did not faint.

¹¹“Of whom were you worried and fearful When you lied, and did not remember Me Nor give Me a thought? Was I not silent, even for a long time, So you do not fear Me?

¹²I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, And they will not benefit you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols save you. But the wind will carry them all up, And a breath will take them away. But the one who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land And possess My holy mountain.”

¹⁴And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle from the way of My people.”

¹⁵For this is what the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.

¹⁷Because of the wrongful act of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,

¹⁹Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far away and to him who is near,” Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”

²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

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

¹“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their wrongdoing, And to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.

³‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high!

⁵Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?

⁶Is this not the fast that I choose: To release the bonds of wickedness, To undo the ropes of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke?

⁷Is it not to break your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will spring up quickly; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰And if you offer yourself to the hungry And satisfy the need of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday.

¹¹And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

¹²Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

¹³“If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot From doing as you wish on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word,

¹⁴Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

¹Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

²But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with wrongdoing; Your lips have spoken deceit, Your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.

⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; The one who eats of their eggs dies, And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.

⁶Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of wrongdoing, And an act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing, Devastation and destruction are in their paths.

⁸They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not reach us; We hope for light, but there is darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.

¹¹All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You, And our sins have testified against us; For our wrongful acts are with us, And we know our wrongdoings:

¹³Offending and denying the LORD, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking, And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

¹⁶And He saw that there was no one, And was amazed that there was not one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will He repay: Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies; To the coastlands He will deal retribution.

¹⁹So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the LORD drives.

²⁰“A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”