Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth it fast; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Neither let the foreigner, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
For thus saith Jehovah of the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant:
Unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a {Or, place Hebrew: hand.}memorial and a name {Or, better than sons or daughters}better than of sons and of daughters; I will give {Hebrew: him.}them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Also the foreigners that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast 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 mine altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
The Lord Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel, saith, Yet will I gather others to him, {Hebrew: to his gathered ones.}besides his own that are gathered.
All ye beasts of the field, {Or, come ye to devour all the beasts in the forest.}come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, {Or, one and all}from every quarter.
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.
Querverweise zu Jesaja 56,11 Jes 56,11
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah.
And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;
and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
Yea, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee, but raw.
And if the man said unto him, They will surely burn the fat {Hebrew: to-day.}first, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then {Another reading is, he would say unto him, Thou &c.}he would say, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.
neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause.
Wherefore {Or, trample ye upon…and upon}kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not {Or, miss}visit those that are {Or, lost}cut off, neither will seek {Or, the young}those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which {Hebrew: standeth.}is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.
Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy {Or, dishonest gain}covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
And ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken unto lies.
And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, {Isaiah 6:9, 10.}By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand;And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:
forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of {Many ancient authorities read Bosor.}Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing;
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, even to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the sheep?
For this people's heart is waxed gross,And their ears are dull of hearing,And their eyes they have closed;Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes,And hear with their ears,And understand with their heart,And should turn again,And I should heal them.
but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep.
Why do ye not {Or, know}understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
in whom the god of this {Or, age}world hath blinded the {Greek: thoughts. Chapter 4:4, 11:3}minds of the unbelieving, {Or, that they should not see the light…image of God}that the {Greek: illumination.}light of the {See marginal note on chapter 2:12.}gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.
Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock;
I coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision:
whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
{Or, not quarrelsome over wine}no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;
Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
For the {Or, overseer}bishop must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, {Or, not quarrelsome over wine.}no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;
whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Tend the flock of God which is among you, {Some ancient authorities omit exercising the oversight.}exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, {Some ancient authorities omit according to the will of God.}according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
having eyes full of {Greek: an adulteress.}adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing;
forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of {Many ancient authorities read Bosor.}Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing;
Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and {Or, cast themselves away through}ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.
Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and {Or, doeth}maketh a lie.