Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Isaiah, chapters 56 through 59. Chapter 56 Thus
says the Lord, Keep justice and do righteousness,
for my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness
to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who lays hold on it. who keeps
from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand
from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the
foreigner, who has joined himself to the Lord,
speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated
me from his people. Nor let the eunuch say, Here
I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the
eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what
pleases me, and hold fast my covenant, even to
them I will give in my house and within my walls
a place and a name. Better than that of sons
and daughters, I will give them an everlasting
name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons
of the foreigner, who join themselves to the
Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the
Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps
from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast my
covenant. Even them I will bring 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 shall be called
a house of prayer for all nations. The Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, Yet
I will gather to him others besides those who
are gathered to him. All you beasts of the field
come to devour. All you beasts in the forest.
His watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant.
They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. sleeping,
lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are
greedy dogs, which never have enough, and they
are shepherds who cannot understand. They all
look to their own way, every one for his own
gain, from his own territory. Come, one says,
I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves
with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as
today, and much more abundant. Chapter 57 The
righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart.
Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers
that the righteous is taken away from evil. He
shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their
beds, each one walking in his uprightness. But
come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring
of the adulterer and the harlot. Whom do you
ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth
and stick out the tongue? Are you not children
of transgression? offspring of falsehood, inflaming
yourselves with gods under every green tree,
slaying the children in the valleys under the
clefts of the rocks? Among the smooth stones
of the stream is your portion. They, they are
your lot. Even to them you have poured a drink
offering, you have offered a grain offering.
Should I receive comfort in these? On a lofty
and high mountain you have set your bed. Even
there you went up to offer sacrifice. Also behind
the doors and their posts you have set up your
remembrance. For you have uncovered yourself
to those other than me and have gone up to them.
You have enlarged your bed and made a covenant
with them. You have loved their bed where you
saw their nudity. You went to the king with ointment
and increased your perfumes. You sent your messengers
far off and even descended to Sheol. You are
wearied in the length of your way, yet you did
not say there is no hope. You have found the
life of your hand, therefore you were not grieved.
And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that
you have lied and not remembered me, nor taken
it to your heart? Is it not because I have held
my peace from of old, that you do not fear me?
I will declare your righteousness and your works,
for they will not profit you. When you cry out,
let your collection of idols deliver you. But
the wind will carry them away, a breath will
take them. But he who puts his trust in me shall
possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.
And one shall say, heap it up, heap it up, prepare
the way, take the stumbling block out of the
way of my people. For thus says the High and
Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name
is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive
the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not
contend forever, nor will I always be angry,
for the spirit would fail before me, and the
souls which I have made. For the iniquity of
his covetousness, I was angry and struck him.
I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding
in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways
and will heal him. I will also lead him and restore
comforts to him and to his mourners. I create
the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him who
is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord,
and I will heal him. But the wicked are like
the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace,
says my God, for the wicked. Chapter 58 Cry aloud,
spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet,
tell my people their transgression, and the house
of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to know my ways, as a nation that
did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance
of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of
justice, they take delight in approaching God.
Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not
seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you
take no notice? In fact, in the day of your fast
you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers.
Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to
strike with the fist of wickedness. You will
not fast as you do this day, to make your voice
heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen?
A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to
bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread
out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this
a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is
this not the fast that I have chosen, to lose
the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,
to let the oppressed go free and that you break
every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with
the hungry and that you bring to your house the
poor who are cast out? When you see the naked,
that you cover him, and not hide yourself from
your own flesh, then your light shall break forth
like the morning, your healing shall spring forth
speedily, and your righteousness shall go before
you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear
guard, then you shall call, and the Lord will
answer. You shall cry, and he will say, Here
I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy
the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn
in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as
the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen
your bones. You shall be like a watered garden
and like a spring of water whose waters do not
fail. Those from among you shall build the old
waste places. You shall raise up the foundations
of many generations, and you shall be called
the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets
to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from
the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy
day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy
day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him
not doing your own ways, nor finding your own
pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you
shall delight yourself in the Lord. and I will
cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your
father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Chapter
59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated
you from your God, and your sins have hidden
his face from you, so that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your
fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken
lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No
one calls for justice, nor does any plead for
truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies.
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's
web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from
that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their
webs will not become garments, nor will they
cover themselves with their works. Their works
are works of iniquity, and the act of violence
is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and
they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and
destruction are in their path. The way of peace
they have not known, and there is no justice
in their ways. They have made themselves crooked
paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know
peace therefore justice is far from us nor does
righteousness overtake us we look for light but
there is darkness for brightness but we walk
in blackness we grope for the wall like the blind
and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble
at noon day as at twilight we are as dead men
in desolate places we all growl like bears and
moan sadly like doves We look for justice, but
there is none. For salvation, but it is far from
us. For our transgressions are multiplied before
you, and our sins testify against us. For our
transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities,
we know them. In transgressing and lying against
the Lord and departing from our God, speaking
oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering
from the heart words of falsehood, justice is
turned back. and righteousness stands afar off.
For truth is fallen in the street, and equity
cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs
from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord
saw it, and it displeased him that there was
no justice. He saw that there was no man, and
wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore
his own arm brought salvation for him, and his
own righteousness it sustained him. For he put
on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet
of salvation on his head. He put on the garments
of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly
he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense
to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully
repay, so shall they fear the name of the Lord
from the west, and his glory from the rising
of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard
against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion and
to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,
says the Lord. As for me, says the Lord, this
is my covenant with them. 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 descendants. nor from the mouth
of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord,
from this time and forevermore. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did and I look forward
to seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our
journey. God bless you and have a great day.