An Invitation to Life
55 “Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the waters!
Also, you that have no money, come,
buy, and eat!
Come! Buy[a] wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why spend your money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?[b]
Listen carefully to me,
and eat what is good,
and let your soul delight itself in rich food.
3 Pay attention[c] to me,
come to me;
and[d] listen, so that you may live;
then I’ll make[e] an everlasting covenant with you,
as promised by[f] my faithful, sure love for David.
4 “Look! I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 “Look! You will call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that does[g] not know you will run[h] to you,
because of the Lord your God, even[i] the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.”
Steps to Reconciliation
6 “Seek the Lord while he[j] may be found,
call upon him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous person his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord,
So he’ll have mercy upon him,
and to our God,
for he’ll pardon abundantly.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For just as[k] the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For just as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there without watering the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
yielding seed for the sower and bread for eating,[l]
11 so will my message be that goes out of my mouth—
it won’t return to me empty.
Instead, it will accomplish what I desire,
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 “For you will go out in joy,
and come back[m] with peace;
the mountains and the hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees in[n] the fields[o] will clap their hands.
13 Instead of thornbushes, pine trees will grow,
and[p] instead of briers, myrtles will grow;
and they[q] will be a sign for the Lord,
and an everlasting name[r] that will not be cut off.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 55:1 So MT LXX; 1QIsaa skips from the first come, buy to the second come, buy, omitting the words in between
- Isaiah 55:2 Lit. what is not satisfaction; so 1QIsaa; MT reads what is not for satisfaction
- Isaiah 55:3 Lit. Turn your ear
- Isaiah 55:3 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lacks and
- Isaiah 55:3 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsac MT read then let me make
- Isaiah 55:3 1QIsaa 4QIsac MT LXX lack as promised by
- Isaiah 55:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads a nation (pl.) that do; LXX reads nations that do
- Isaiah 55:5 So 1QIsaa (sing.); MT LXX (pl.)
- Isaiah 55:5 So 1QIsaa; MT 1QIsaa corrector read and because of
- Isaiah 55:6 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab MT LXX; implied in 4QIsac
- Isaiah 55:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks just as
- Isaiah 55:10 So 1QIsaa; MT reads for the eater
- Isaiah 55:12 So 1QIsaa. MT reads and be led back cf. LXX
- Isaiah 55:12 Or of
- Isaiah 55:12 Or orchards
- Isaiah 55:13 So 1QIsaa MTmss; MT LXX lacks and
- Isaiah 55:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read it
- Isaiah 55:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read a name, an everlasting sign