Isaiah 56:1-8

Salvation for Foreigners

1 Thus says the Lord:
"Keep justice, and do righteousness,
w for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
 2 Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
x who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

3 Let not y the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
"The Lord will surely separate me from his people";
and let not the eunuch say,
"Behold, I am z a dry tree."
 4 For thus says the Lord:
"To the eunuchs x who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
 5 a I will give in my house and within my walls
a b monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
c I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.

6 "And y the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone x who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant -
7 d these I will bring to e my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
f their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for g my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples."
 8 The Lord God,
h who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
i "I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered."

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 46:12 - 13
    Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness:
    Isaiah 51:5 - 6
    My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:13
    If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 14:1
    For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
    Deuteronomy 23:7 - 8
    You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.
  4. Cross References
    Ezekiel 17:24
    And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord ; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord ; I have spoken, and I will do it.
    Ezekiel 20:47
    Say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of the Lord : Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 56:2
    Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
  6. Cross References
    1 Timothy 3:15
    If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
    Revelation 3:12
    The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
  7. Cross References
    2 Samuel 18:18
    Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King's Valley, for he said, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance." He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day.
    John 1:12
    But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
  8. Cross References
    2 Timothy 2:19
    But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 56:3
    Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 56:2
    Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 65:1
    I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here am I, here am I," to a nation that was not called by my name.
    Isaiah 19:24 - 25
    In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:2
    It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.
  13. Cross References
    Romans 15:16
    To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
  14. Cross References
    Matthew 21:13
    He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.
    Mark 11:17
    And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.
    Luke 19:46
    Saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers.
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 11:12
    He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
  16. Cross References
    John 10:16
    And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
    Ephesians 1:10
    As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
    Ephesians 2:11 - 16
    Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands -
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.