Isaiah 55

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Isaiah 55 begins with an invitation to come to the waters, buy food and drink without cost, and listen to the Lord to receive an everlasting covenant promised to David. The text describes David as a witness and commander to whom unknown nations will run because the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory upon him. People are instructed to seek the Lord, call upon Him, and urge the wicked to forsake their ways for divine compassion and pardon. The Lord declares that His thoughts and ways are higher than those of humanity, comparing the effectiveness of His word to rain and snow that water the earth to produce food. Finally, the chapter concludes with a description of people going out with joy and peace as mountains, hills, and trees rejoice, and cypress and myrtle grow in place of thorns and briers as an everlasting sign for the Lord.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! ²Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods. ³Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant— My loving devotion promised to David. ⁴Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the peoples. ⁵Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.” ⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. ⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, ¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it. ¹²You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ¹³Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.