Yesaya 56:1

The Lord Invites Outsiders to Enter

56:1 This is what the Lord says,

“Promote ¹  justice! Do what is right!

For I am ready to deliver you;

I am ready to vindicate you openly. ² 

Yesaya 56:6-8

56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of ³  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 to ⁴  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. ⁵ 

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.” ⁶ 

56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,

the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:

“I will still gather them up.” ⁷ 

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

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

[56:6]  ³ tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”

[56:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”

[56:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”

[56:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

[56:8]  ⁷ tn 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.”