For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant—
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant:
- KJV For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
- NKJV For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,
- NASB For this is what the Lord says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold firmly to My covenant,
- NLT For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
To eunuchs who keep His Sabbaths, please Him, and hold to His covenant, God makes a special promise. It matters because faithfulness, not physical status, qualifies one for God's blessing.
Overview
God addresses the eunuch's fear directly, promising blessing on the basis of covenant faithfulness rather than lineage or wholeness. What matters is choosing what pleases God and holding fast His covenant. This grace points forward to the inclusion of all who, in Christ, belong to God regardless of former exclusions.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 27:5Or let them lay claim to My protection; let them make peace with Me—yes, let them make peace with Me.”
- Ps 119:111Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Luke 10:42But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”
- Josh 24:15But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
- Isa 56:6And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—
- 2 Sam 23:5Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?
- Isa 55:3Incline 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.
- Jer 50:5They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
- Isa 56:2Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
- Heb 6:17So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 56:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.