World English Bible

Chapter 57

¹The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. ²He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness. ³But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute. ⁴Against whom do you sport yourselves? against whom make you a wide mouth, and put out the tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood, ⁵you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; even to them have you poured a drink offering, you have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? ⁷On a high and lofty mountain have you set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice. ⁸Behind the doors and the posts have you set up your memorial: for you have uncovered yourself to another than me, and are gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them: you loved their bed where you saw it. ⁹You went to the king with oil, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your ambassadors far off, and did debase yourself even to Sheol. ¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn’t say, It is in vain: you found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint. ¹¹Of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace even of long time, and you don’t fear me? ¹²I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they shall not profit you. ¹³When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain. ¹⁴He will say, Cast up, cast up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people. ¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls who I have made. ¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him; I hid my face and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. ¹⁸I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. ¹⁹I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Yahweh; and I will heal him. ²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. ²¹There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.