Isaiah 57

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¹The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil. ✦ ²He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness. ✦ ³“But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot! ✦ ⁴Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth And stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, Offspring of falsehood, ✦ ⁵Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks? ✦ ⁶Among the smooth stones of the stream Is your portion; They, they, are your lot! Even to them you have poured a drink offering, You have offered a grain offering. Should I receive comfort in these? ✦ ⁷“Ona lofty and high mountain You have set your bed; Even there you went up To offer sacrifice. ✦ ⁸Also behind the doors and their posts You have set up your remembrance; For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me, And have gone up to them; You have enlarged your bed And made a covenant with them; You have loved their bed, Where you saw their nudity. ✦ ⁹You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol. ✦ ¹⁰You are wearied in the length of your way; Yet you did not say, ‘There is no hope.’ You have found the life of your hand; Therefore you were not grieved. ✦ ¹¹“And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, That you have lied And not remembered Me, Nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held My peace from of old That you do not fear Me? ✦ ¹²I will declare your righteousness And your works, For they will not profit you. ✦ ¹³When you cry out, Let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, And shall inherit My holy mountain.” ✦ ¹⁴And one shall say, “Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way, Take 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 who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. ✦ ¹⁶For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made. ✦ ¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid 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 also lead him, And restore comforts to him And to his mourners. ✦ ¹⁹“I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” Says the Lord, “And I will heal him.” ✦ ²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ✦ ²¹“Thereis no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Concept Transcendence & Immanence

Where this chapter connects

Jer 3 ·8 Ezek 16 ·8 Jer 2 ·6 Ezek 23 ·6 Isa 1 ·6 Ezek 20 ·5 Isa 66 ·5 Isa 30 ·5

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 57 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 57YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 57David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 57Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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