< Isaiah 55 >
1 All you who thirst, come to the waters. And you who have no money: hurry, buy and eat. Approach, buy wine and milk, without money and without barter.
2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and expend your labor for what does not satisfy? Listen very closely to me, and eat what is good, and then your soul will be delighted by a full measure.
3 Incline your ear and draw near to me. Listen, and your soul will live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, by the faithful mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have presented him as a witness to the people, as a commander and instructor to the nations.
5 Behold, you will call to a nation that you did not know. And nations that did not know you will rush to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. For he has glorified you.
6 Seek the Lord, while he is able to be found. Call upon him, while he is near.
7 Let the impious one abandon his way, and the iniquitous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will take pity on him, and to our God, for he is great in forgiveness.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, says the Lord.
9 For just as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so also are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 And in the same manner as rain and snow descend from heaven, and no longer return there, but soak the earth, and water it, and cause it to bloom and to provide seed to the sower and bread to the hungry,
11 so also will my word be, which will go forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish whatever I will, and it will prosper in the tasks for which I sent it.
12 For you will go forth rejoicing, and you will be led forward in peace. The mountains and the hills will sing praise before you, and all the trees of the countryside will clap their hands.
13 In place of the shrub, the pine tree will arise, and in place of the nettle, the myrtle tree will grow. And the Lord will be named with an eternal sign, which will not be taken away.
