" ‘This says the LORD, Keep…judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

" ‘Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from his people": Neither let the eunuch say, "Look, I am a dry tree."

" ‘For this says the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, everyone that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

" ‘The Lord GOD which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

" ‘For the iniquity of Israel’s covetousness was I angry, and struck him: I hid me, and was angry, and he went on forward in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

" ‘…Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that 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, to the wicked.’ "

-God prophesies the downfall of Babylon-

The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. "The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying…., ‘Look, I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be lived in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

" ‘This says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in two the bars of iron: And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call you by your name, am the God of Israel.

" ‘I have raised Cyrus up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price, nor reward, says the LORD of hosts.

" ‘Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: This says your Lord the LORD, and your God that pleads the cause of his people, Look, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again: Therefore my people shall know my name…they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: look, it is I.

" ‘Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For, look, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.’ "

-The Prayer of the Remnant-

"Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence, for since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him. You meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways.

"Look, you are angry; for we have sinned: in this we continue, and we shall be saved? But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

"But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand. Be not angry very strongly, O LORD, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we implore you, we are all your people."

-God Responds to the Remnant-

" ‘This says the LORD, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, "Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it": so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all. That he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.

" ‘For, look, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

" ‘But be…glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, look, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

" ‘And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

" ‘And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

" ‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

" ‘This says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things has my hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.

" ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; your brothers that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, "Let the LORD be glorified": but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. For, look, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

" ‘I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

" ‘Rejoice…with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

" ‘And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD.

REFERENCES

Isaiah 56:1-8; Isaiah 57:16-21; Isaiah 13:1; Isaiah 14:24a; Isaiah 13:17, 19-20; Isaiah 45:1-3, 13; Isaiah 51:21-22; Isaiah 52:6; Isaiah 60:1-3; Isaiah 64:1, 4-6, 8-9a; Isaiah 65:8, 16-19, 21-25; Isaiah 66:1-2, 5, 15-16; Isaiah 66:4, 10, 22-23.

CHAPTER 48